Wicked  Borroweth,  and  Returneth  Not  Again," 


J.  P.  WRIGHT 


lEx  IGthrta 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


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in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/contemplationsbeOOhubb 


Copyright  by  H.  Shervee 

ELBERT  HUBBA 


mm 


Contemplations 

Being  Several  Short  Essays,  Helpful 
Sermonettes,  Epigrams  and  Orphic 
Sayings  Selected  from  the  lilritings  of 
Elbert  Hubbard  by  Heloise  Hawthorne 


(Ubcnein  loill  be  found  thoughts  that  may  have  been 
Expressed  Before,  but  probably  Dot  Quite  so  (ilell: 
with  Truthful  Incidents  Gathered  and  Garnered  from 
the  Experience  of  One  iobo  has  Realized  the  Value  of 
the  Passing  moments  and  has  Endeavored  to  get 
as  much  Good  from  Cbem,  for  Himself  and  Others, 
as  Possible— ujbo  has  Hoped  much,  Lowed  much 
and  Failed  much,  yet  UJhose  Grateful  faith  in  the 
Eternal  Beneficence  of  Things  is  Still  Unimpaired 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Elbert  Hubbard. 


WISH  to  be  simple,  honest,  frank, 
natural,  clean  in  mind  and  body, 
unaffected — ready  to  say  "I  do 
not  know"  if  so  it  be,  to  meet  all 
men  on  an  absolute  equality — to 
face  any  obstacle  and  meet  every  difficulty 
unabashed  and  unafraid — to  cultivate  the 
hospitable  mind  and  the  receptive  heart. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  1 


flngPjjlFE  AS  A  KINDERGARTEN.  If 
||§i  there  only  were  a  Science  of  Educa- 
iliiil  tion  we  would  run  the  boys  through 
the  mill  and  the  trick  would  be  done.  If  edu- 
cation were  a  Science  we  could  take  so  much 
boy  and  so  much  curriculum  and  produce, 
without  fail,  so  much  truth  and  competence. 
<LAlas!  for  our  theories,  most  of  the  men 
who  built  up  and 


manage  our  great 
railroads,  were  un- 
taught,countrylads. 
<L  Very  many  of  the 
strong  men  in  all  of 
our  great  cities — the 
men  at  the  heads  of 
factories  and  banks 
— were  boys  who 
never  had  the  ad- 
vantages of  college 
training.  Not  alone 
is  this  true  of  the 
so-called  "practical 
men,"  but  many  of 
the  foremost  names 
in  literature,  science 
and  art  are  those  of 
men  who  never  had 
any  "advantages." 
It  is  surely  equal- 
ly true  that  a  great 
number  of  college 
graduates  have  gone 
to  the  front,  but  on 
the  other  hand,  a 
college  degree  is  no 
adequate  verifica- 
tion of  competence. 


he  might  see  how  little  the  thing  is  really 
worth.  And  I  would  have  every  man  rich  that 
he  might  know  the  worthlessness  of  riches. 
CTo  take  a  young  man  from  work,  say,  at 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  keep  him  from 
useful  labor,  in  the  name  of  education  for 
four  years,  will  some  day  be  regarded  as  a 
most  absurd  proposition.  It  is  the  most 
gigantic  illusion  of 

T  is  a  great  blessing  to  be 
born  into  a  family  where 


strict  economy  of  time 
and  money  is  necessary. 
The  idea  that  nothing 
shall  be  wasted  and  that  each  child 
must  carve  out  for  himself  a  career 
is  a  thrice-blessed  heritage.  Rich 
parents  are  an  awful  handicap  to 
youth:  few  indeed  there  be  who 
have  the  strength  to  stand  prosperity. 
<LAt  last  we  must  admit  that  the  man 
who  towers  above  his  fellows  is  the 
one  who  has  the  power  to  make 
others  work  for  him;  a  great  suc- 
cess is  not  possible  in  any  other  way. 
CThe  sculptor  produces  the  beauti- 
ful statue  by  chipping  away  such  parts 
of  the  marble  block  as  are  not  need- 
ed— it  is  a  process  of  elimination. 


the  age.  Set  in  mo- 
tion by  priests  and 
preachers,  the  idea 
was  that  the  young 
person  should  be 
drilled  and  versed 
in  "sacred"  themes. 
Hence  the  dead  lan- 
guages and  the  fixed 
thought  that  educa- 
tion should  be  eso- 
teric. The  only  per- 
sons at  first  receiv- 
ing education  were 
the  ones  intended 
for  the  church.  This 
separation  from  the 
practical  world  for 
a  number  of  years, 
where  work  of  no 
account  was  done& 
the  whole  attention 
fixed  on  the  abstract 
themes  &  theories, 
often  tended  to  crip- 
ple the  man  so  that 
he  could  never  go 
back  to  the  world 


And  just  so  long  as  some  men  who  are  not 
college  bred  take  first  places  on  the  roster  of 
fame,  and  some  men  who  are  college  bred 
sink  out  of  sight,  most  thinking  men  will 
admit  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  Science 
of  Education. 

And  of  the  college  men  who  succeed,  who 
shall  say  whether  they  succeeded  by  and 
through  the  help  the  college  gave,  or  in 
spite  of  it? 

Yet  many  men  who  win  often  wail,  "If  I  only 
had  had  the  advantages  of  college  training!" 
If  so,  it  might  have  ironed  all  the  individu- 
ality out  of  them.  And  yet  I  would  have  every 
man  have  a  college  education,  in  order  that 


of  work  and  useful- 
ness. He  was  no  longer  a  producer  and  had 
to  be  supported  by  tithes  and  taxes. 
And  of  course,  as  he  did  not  intend  to  go  back 
to  the  world  of  work  and  usefulness,  it  really 
did  n't  make  any  difference  if  he  did  sink 
into  a  pupa-like  condition  of  nullity. 
If  you  wish  to  get  a  glimpse  of  pitiable  help- 
lessness in  a  man,  search  out  an  unfrocked 
priest.  Do  you  wonder  that  preachers  uphold 
the  creed?  It  is  a  death  clutch. 
The  priestly  method  of  education,  of  trust 
and  reverence,  and  of  repression — pouring 
ideas  in  from  the  outside,  still  obtains  in  most 
of  the  large  colleges.  The  pupil  is  not  taught 
to  think  for  himself  or  express  himself.  The 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  2 


system  of  recitations,  where  the  lecture  plan 
is  in  vogue,  is  such  that  nearly  every  youth 
who  stands  on  his  feet  to  recite  is  nearly 
paralyzed  with  fright— his  teeth  chatter  and 
his  knees  knock  together.  All  that  fine  spon- 
taneity which  one  sees  in  a  well  regulated 
kindergarten  is  noticeable  by  its  absence. 
C,  In  the  smaller  colleges,  especially  in  the 
west,  many  instan- 


ces are  found  of  stu- 
dents working  their 
way  through  school. 
My  experience  has 
led  me  to  believe 
that  such  students 
stand  a  very  much 
better  chance  in  the 
world's  race  than 
those  who  are  made 
exempt  from  prac- 
tical affairs  by  hav- 
ing everything  pro- 
vided. The  respon- 
sibility of  caring  for 
himself  is  a  neces- 
sary factor  in  man's 
evolution,  that  must 
not  be  too  long  de- 
layed. 

And  the  point  of 
this  preachment  lies 
here:  that  to  make  a 
young  man  exempt 
from  the  practical 
world,  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-one,  is  to 
run  the  risk  of  ruin- 
ing him  for  life.  Pos- 
sibly you  have  taken  opportunity  from  him, 
and  turned  him  into  a  mnemonic  machine. 
CL  There  are  people  who  are  always  talking 
about  preparing  for  life,  and  preparing  for 
eternity,  and  preparing  to  meet  God.  We  are 
living  in  eternity  now  as  much  as  ever  we 
shall,  and  the  only  way  to  meet  God  is  to 
have  His  spirit  in  our  hearts.  God  is  not 
away  off  there:  He  is  here,  and  every  day  is 
Judgment  Day. 

A  school  should  not  be  a  preparation  for  life 
—A  School  Should  Be  Life. 
There  will  never  be  a  science  of  pedagogy  so 
long  as  you  take  the  pupil  from  his  work  in 
order  to  educate  him.  Isolation  from  the 


world,  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  world's 
work,  is  folly.  You  might  as  well  take  a  boy 
out  of  the  blacksmith  shop  in  order  to  teach 
him  blacksmithing.  College  is  a  make-believe 
and  every  college  student  knows  it.  From  the 
age  of  fourteen  and  upward,  the  pupil  should 
feel  that  he  is  doing  something  useful,  not 
merely  killing  time.  And  so  his  work  and  his 
instruction  ought  to 

OMEN  often  make  shrill 


outcry  at  sight  of  a  mouse; 
men  curse  roundly  when 
large,  buzzing,  blue-bot- 
tle flies  disturb  their 
after-dinner  nap;  but  let  occasion 
come  and  the  stuff  of  which  heroes 
are  made  is  in  us  all.  I  think  well  of 
my  kind^i>^i^^^^>^^^^.^^. 
C  Strong  people  are  not  so  much  ad- 
vertised by  their  loving  friends  as  by 
their  rabid  enemies. 
CThe  heroic  man  does  not  pose ;  he 
leaves  that  for  the  man  who  wishes 
to  be  thought  heroic. 
CA  bird  in  the  bush  is  worth  two 
on  a  woman's  bonnet. 
C  Society  does  not  punish  those  who 
sin ;  but  those  who  sin  and  conceal 
not  cleverly 


go  right  along  hand 
in  hand.  And  this 
sort  of  education  is 
given  out,  in  degree, 
in  Purdue  Univer- 
sity, in  the  Schools 
of  Technology,  the 
various  Agricultur- 
al Colleges,  the  Fer- 
ris Institute,  by  that 
strong  and  useful 
man,  Beardshear  of 
Iowa,  and  that  other 
equally  great  man, 
Booker  T.Washing- 
ton, and  by  various 
other  excellent  men 
&  women  scattered 
here  and  there. 
Yet  we  will  not  ap- 
proximate the  per- 
fect college  until  we 
have  an  institution 
where  any  boy  can 
go  and  earn  his  own 
livelihood,  &  where 
he  will  not  be  hu- 
miliated by  the  op- 
eration. Then  stu- 
dents will  be  paid  for  their  work,  and  in 
turn  they  will  pay  for  certain  advantages, 
and  thus  the  idea  of  mutuality,  reciprocity 
and  economy  of  time  and  money  will  be  fos- 
tered and  encouraged. 
But  a  little  while  ago  and  men  were  educated 
only  that  they  might  belong  to  one  of  the  three 
so-called  "learned  professions."  But  we  dis- 
covered yesterday  that  the  "learned  profes- 
sions" are  a  good  deal  of  a  humbug— a  truth 
that  the  best  members  of  the  professions  are 
now  quite  willing  to  admit. 
The  best  lesson  in  life  is  the  lesson  of  Self- 
Reliance,  and  the  college  that  inculcates  this 
best  will  approach  the  Ideal. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  3 


pgffEARNING  BY  DOING.  There  is  no 
|  mm  more  preposterous  admonition  than 
I  sal  that  which  has  been  dinged  into  the 
ears  of  innocence  for  centuries,  "Children 
should  be  seen  and  not  heard." 
The  healthy,  active  child  is  full  of  impres- 
sions, and  that  he  should  express  himself  is 
just  as  natural  as  for  a  bird  to  sing.  It  is 
nature's  way  of  giv 


my  interest  in  his  garden  was  something 
deeper  than  mere  curiosity,  he  offered  to  go 
out  with  me  and  show  me  what  had  been 
done.  So  we  walked  out,  and  out,  too,  behind 
us  trooped  the  school  of  just  fifteen  scholars. 
C  "In  winter  we  have  sixty  or  more  pupils, 
but  you  see  the  school  is  small  now.  I  thought 
I  would  try  the  plan  of  teaching  out  of  doors 
half  the  time,  and  to 

HILE  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  it  for  certain, 
it  is  my  opinion  that  at 
the  Last  Great  Day  the 
folks  who  stayed  around 
home  and  pruned  their  vines  and 
tended  their  flocks  and  loved  their 
and  babies  will  fare  a  deal 
than  those  other  men  who 


ing  growth — no  one 
knows  a  thing  for 
sure  until  he  tells  it 
to  some  one  else. 
We  deepen  impres- 
sions by  recounting 
them,  and  to  habit- 
ually suppress  and 
repress  the  child 
when  he  wants  to 
tell  of  the  curious 
things  he  has  seen, 
is  to  display  a  2x4 
acumen. 

Last  summer  on  a 
horse-back  ride  of  a 
hundred  milesorso, 
I  came  to  an  out-of- 
the-way  "Deestrick 
School,"  just  such  a 
one  as  you  see  ev- 
ery three  miles  all 
over  New  York 
State.  This  particu- 
lar school  house 
would  not  have  at- 
tracted my  attention 
specially  had  I  not 
noticed  that  nearly 
half  the  school  lot  was  taken  up  with  a  gar- 
den and  flower  beds.  No  house  was  near  and 
it  was  apparent  that  this  garden  was  the  work 
of  the  teacher  and  scholars. 
Straightway  I  dismounted,  tied  my  horse  and 
walked  into  the  schoolhouse. 
The  teacher  was  a  man  of  middle  age — a 
hunchback,  and  one  of  the  rarest,  gentlest 
spirits  I  ever  met.  Have  you  ever  noticed 
what  an  alert,  receptive  and  beautiful  soul  is 
often  housed  in  a  misshapen  body  ?  This  man 
was  modest  and  shy  as  a  woman,  and  when 
I  spoke  of  the  flower  beds,  he  half  apologized 
for  them,  and  tried  to  change  the  subject. 
When,  after  a  few  moments,  he  realized  that 


wives 

better  tnan  tnose  otner  men 
made  war  on  innocent  people  and 
tried  to  render  them  homeless.  Of 
course  I  may  be  wrong  about  this, 
but  I  cannot  help  having  an  opinion. 
CDon't  be  selfish.  If  you  have  some- 
thing that  you  do  not  want,  and  know 
some  one  who  has  no  use  for  it,  give 
it  to  that  person.  In  this  way  you 
can  be  generous  without  expenditure 
or  self-denial  and  also  help  another 
to  be  the  same,^^^^^^,^^^,^. 


keep  the  girls  and 
boys  busy  I  just  let 
each  scholar  have  a 
flower  bed.  Some 
wanted  to  raise  veg- 
etables, &  of  course 
I  let  them  plant  any 
seed  they  wished. 
The  older  children, 
girls  or  boys,  help 
the  younger  ones— 
itislotsoffun.When 
the  weather  is  fine 
we  are  out  here  a 
good  deal  of  the 
time,  just  working 
and  talking." 
And  that  is  the  way 
this  man  taught— 
letting  the  children 
do  things  and  talk. 
He  explained  to  me 
that  he  was  not  an 
"educated"  man, 
and  as  I  contradict- 
ed him  my  eyes 
filled  with  tears.  Not 
educated?  I  wonder 


how  many  of  us 
who  call  ourselves  educated  have  a  disci- 
plined mind,  and  can  call  by  name  the  forest 
birds  in  our  vicinity?  Do  we  know  the  bird- 
notes  when  we  hear  them?  Can  we  with 
pencil  outline  the  leaves  of  oak,  elm,  maple, 
chestnut,  hazel,  walnut,  birch  or  beech  trees, 
so  others  familiar  with  these  trees  can  recog- 
nize them? 

Do  we  know  by  name  or  on  sight  the  insects 
that  fill  the  summer  nights  with  melody?  Do 
we  know  whether  the  katydid,  cricket  and 
locust  "sing"  with  mouth,  wings  or  feet? 
Do  we  know  what  they  feed  upon,  how  long 
they  live,  and  what  becomes  of  the  tree-toad 
in  winter?  Do  we  know  for  sure  how  much 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  4 


a  bushel  of  wheat  weighs?  I  wonder  what 
it  is  to  be  educated.  Here  was  a  man  seem- 
ingly sore  smitten  by  the  hand  of  Fate,  and 
yet  whose  heart  was  filled  with  sympathy 
and  love.  He  had  no  quarrel  either  with  the 
world  or  Destiny.  He  was  childless  that  he 
might  love  all  children,  and  that  his  heart 
might  go  out  to  every  living  thing.  The  trus- 
tees of  the  school 


in  the  presence  of  such  a  man,  should  we 
not  uncover? 


fS  IFE  IN  ABUNDANCE.  The  supreme 
J.  Sgs  prayer  of  my  heart  is,  not  to  be  learned, 
y§=2J  rich,  famous,  powerful,  or  "good," 
but  to  be  Radiant. 

I  desire  to  radiate  health,  cheerfulness,  sin- 
cerity, calm  courage 

MERICANITIS  is  on 
the  increase,  the  Wise 
Ones  say.  Americanitis 
comes  from  an  intense 
desire  to  "git  thar"  and  an 
awful  fear  that  you  cannot.  The  ounce 
of  prevention  is  to  cut  down  your 
calling  list,  play  tag  with  the  chil- 
dren and  let  the  world  slide.  Re- 


did not  take  much 
interest  in  the  cur- 
riculum, I  found,  so 
they  let  the  teacher 
have  his  way;  and  I 
have  since  been  told 
that  the  best  schools 
are  those  where  the 
Trustees  or  Direc- 
tors take  no  interest 
in  the  institution. 
A  rare  collection  of 
birds'  eggs,  fungi 
&  forest  leaves  had 
been  made,  and  I 
was  shown  outline 
drawings  of  all  the 
leaves  in  the  garden. 
This  idea  of  draw- 
ing a  picture  of  the 
object  led  to  a  much 
closer  observation, 
the  teacher  thought. 
And  when  I  found 
on  questioningsome 
of  the  children,  that 
the  whole  school 
took  a  semi-weekly 
ramble  through  the 
woods,  and  made  close  studies  of  the  wild 
birds,  as  well  as  insects,  it  came  to  me  that 
this  man,  afar  from  any  "  intellectual  center," 
was  working  out  a  pedagogic  system  that 
science  could  never  improve  upon.  Whether 
the  little  man  realized  this  or  not  I  cannot 
say,  but  I  do  not  think  he  guessed  the  great- 
ness of  his  work  and  methods.  It  was  all  so 
simple— he  did  the  thing  he  liked  to  do,  and 
led  the  children  out  and  they  followed  be- 
cause they  loved  the  man,  and  soon  loved 
the  things  that  he  loved. 
Science  seeks  to  simplify.  This  country 
school-teacher,  doing  his  own  little  work  in 
his  own  little  way,  was  a  true  scientist.  And 


member  that  your  real  wants  are  not 
many — a  few  hours  work  a  day  will 
supply  your  needs — then  you  are 
safe  from  Americanitis  and  death  at 
the  top^^^^^^.^^.^i^^^^^^i. 
CLMany  a  man's  reputation  would 
not  know  his  character  if  they  met 
on  the  street. 

CThe  mouth  indicates  the  flesh ;  the 
eye  the  soul. 

C.Talk  less  and  listen  morc-sm^^ 


and  good  will. 
I  wish  to  live  with- 
out hate,  whim,  jeal- 
ousy, envy  or  fear. 
£1  I  wish  to  be  sim- 
ple, honest,  natural, 
frank,  clean  in  mind 
and  clean  in  body, 
unaffected  —  ready 
to  say  "I  do  not 
know"  if  so  it  be,  to 
meet  all  men  on  an 
absolute  equality — 
to  face  any  obstacle 
and  meet  every  dif- 
ficulty unafraid  and 
unabashed. 
I  wish  others  to  live 
their  lives,  too, — up 
to  their  highest,  full- 
est and  best.  To  that 
end  I  pray  that  I  may 
never  meddle,  dic- 
tate, interfere,  give 
advice  that  is  not 
wanted,  nor  assist 
when  my  services 
are  not  needed.  If  I 
can  help  people  I  '11 
do  it  by  giving  them  a  chance  to  help  them- 
selves; and  if  I  can  uplift  or  inspire,  let  it  be 
by  example,  inference  and  suggestion  rather 
than  by  injunction  and  dictation. 
That  is  to  say,  /  desire  to  be  Radiant— to 
Radiate  Life! 

fcfM  PASTELLE.  A  folder  that  contains  a 
WaM  device  representing  a  locomotive  en- 
HM  gineer  at  his  post  has  been  issued  by 
the  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad.  The  picture 
is  one  of  the  happiest  inspirations  of  its  kind 
I  ever  saw.  The  first  time  I  looked  upon  it,  it 
gave  me  a  sort  of  thrill.  There  sits  the  man, 
gloved,  cap  drawn  tightly,  one  hand  on  the 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


PageS 


lever  of  the  throttle  valve,  the  other  free.  The 
pose  is  easy,  natural — no  intensity,  no  strain, 
no  fear;  on  the  face  is  a  suggestion  of  ele- 
mental calm,  and  a  courage  that  might  be 
the  envy  of  gods  and  men.  Behind  this 
quiet  man,  so  calm,  so  poised,  is  a  treasure 
of  half  a  million  dollars  and  two  hundred 
precious  lives — he  holds  them  all  in  that 
easy  and  unquaking 

grasp.  Before  him  V»?3l  T  is 

are  two  straight  lines 
of  steel,  &  the  huge, 
black,  all-enfolding 
Night.  And  into  the 
gloom,  in  all  perfect 
faith,  this  quiet  man 
forces  his  sensitive 
monster,  with  that 
precious  cargo  and 
the  priceless  lives. 
The  man  is  fearless. 
On  the  boyish  face 
care  sits  lightly,  and 
yet  in  it  all  the  artist 
has  thrown  a  look 
of  experience  and  a 
wisdom  that  betok- 
ens Power. 
I  wonder  if  the  man 
who  drew  that  pic- 
ture ever  read  a  lit- 
tle book  by  Edward 
Carpenter  entitled, 
Towards  Democra- 
cy. Let  me  quote  you 
this: 

"Was  this  then  the 
whole  sum  of  life? 
"A  grinning,  gibbering  organization  of  nega- 
tions— a  polite  trap,  and  a  circle  of  endlessly 
complaisant  faces  bowing  you  back  from 
reality  I 

"Well,  as  it  happened  just  then  — and  as  we 
stopped  at  a  small  way  station — my  eyes 
from  my  swoon-sleep  opening,  encountered 
the  grimy  and  oil-besmeared  figure  of  a 
stoker. 

"Close  at  my  elbow  on  the  foot-plate  of  his 

engine  he  was  standing. 

"And  the  firelight  fell  on  him  brightly  as  for 

a  moment  his  eyes  rested  on  mine. 

"That  was  all,  but  it  was  enough. 

"The  youthful  face,  yet  so  experienced  and 


calm,  was  enough ;  the  quiet  look,  the  straight 
untroubled,  unseeking  eyes,  resting  upon  me 
— giving  me  without  any  ado  the  thing  I 
needed,  and  in  a  moment  I  felt  the  sting  and 
torrent  of  Reality. 

"The  swift  nights  out  in  the  rain  I  felt,  and 
the  great  black  sky  overhead,  and  the  flash- 
ing of  red  and  green  lights  in  the  forward 
distance.  The  anxi- 


T  is  doubtless  true  that 
stupid  men  by  remaining 
quiet  may  often  pass  for 
men  of  wisdom:  this  is 
because  no  man  can  real- 
ly talk  as  wise  as  he  can  look. 
C.  Mother  nature  is  kind,  and  if  she 
deprives  us  of  one  thing  she  gives 
us  another — happiness  seems  to  be 
meted  out  to  each  and  all  in  equal 
portions  j^j^js^ 
(IWe  desire  at  least  a  modicum  of 
intellectual  honesty,  and  the  man 
who  shuffles  his  opinions  in  order 
to  match  ours  is  seen  through  quick- 
ly. We  want  none  of  him. 
tLWriters  seldom  write  the  things 
they  think.  They  simply  write  the 
things  they  think  other  folks  think 
they  think ,#^,#8*#©&,#©^#^.«smg8!> 


ous  straining  for  a 
glimpse  sideways 
into  the  darkness — 
the  dash  of  cold  and 
wet  above,  the  heat 
below — 

"All  this  I  felt,  as  if 
it  had  been  myself. 

"O  eyes,  O  face, 
how  in  that  moment 
without  any  ado  you 
gave  me  all!" 
These  splendid  fel- 
lows who  do  their 
work  and  hold  their 
peace — they  do  give 
us  faith  in  God  and 
faith  in  ourselves. 
<L  They  mind  their 
own  business!  Is 
there  anything  finer 
than  to  mind  one's 
own  business?  O 
cursed  spite,  that 
men  are  born  to  set 
the  others  right. 
Let  us  all  mind  our 
own  business.  How 
curious  it  is  that  men  should  quit  their  work 
and  make  a  business  of  looking  after  the 
business  of  others!  No  man  is  ridiculous 
excepting  when  he  neglects  his  own  affairs 
to  look  after  the  business  of  other  men— no 
man  but  is  splendid  when  he  is  minding  his 
own  business. 

Ah!  That  is  why  I  lift  my  hat  to  the  engineer 
— he  is  doing  his  work.  He  is  minding  his 
own  business. 

KSSgEERS,  THE  SILENT  MAN.  In  cer- 

P1H  tain  9uarters  1  nave  seen  a  tendency 
Hfrs^l  to  smile,  sneer,  and  also  sneeze  at  men- 
tion of  the  town  of  East  Aurora.  To  forever 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  6 


put  the  kibosh  on  any  such  unseemliness,  I 
wish  to  tell  of  a  citizen  of  East  Aurora  who 
has  received  a  world-wide  recognition  and 
whose  name  will  go  down  in  history,  because 
he  has  done  things  better  in  his  own  partic- 
ular line  than  they  were  ever  before  done 
by  mortal  man. 

The  man  I  refer  to  is  Mr.  Edward  F.  Geers, 
spoken  of  wherever 
horsesneigh  as"Ed. 
Geers,  the  Silent 
Man." 

Mr.  Geers  came  to 
East  Aurora  about 
ten  years  ago  to  en- 
ter the  employ  of 
Mr.  C.  J.  Hamlin, 
known  to  the  frater- 
nity as  "Pa." 
Pa  is  now  well  past 
eighty  years  of  age, 
but  he  has  an  eye 
for  Calico,  dearly 
loves  a  horse,  and 
he  loves  Ed.  Geers, 
who  dearly  loves  a 
horse  and  eschews 
Calico  on  principle. 
"The  horse  isGod's 
best  gift  to  man," 
says  Pa  Hamlin. 
Pa  Hamlin  is  not 
especially  literary, 
for  it  was  only  about 
six  months  ago  that 
he  asked  Mr.  Brad- 
burn,  his  farm  sup- 
erintendent, "What 
is  this  here  Philippine  Magazine  Hubbard  is 
printing? — that  fellow  always  hitched  a  little 
in  his  head,  anyway,  goodness  me!" 
Ed.  Geers  is  a  type  of  man  that  is  fast  be- 
coming extinct.  He  reminds  you  of  one  of 
those  Marblehead  sea-captains,  who  used  to 
go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  often  left 
their  bones  to  the  barracout.  Men,  they  were, 
of  unflinching  courage,  loyalty  that  knew  no 
compromise,  religious  withal  and  dauntless 
believers  in  the  God  of  Battles. 
Geers  can  never  be  bought,  intimidated  or 
turned  aside,  when  he  thinks  he  is  doing  his 
duty.  He  is  as  mild  and  low  voiced  as  was 
Kit  Carson,  and  could  shoot  as  quickly,  if 


needs  be.  I  do  not  think  Geers  has  ever 
killed  a  man,  but  if  not,  the  reason  has  been 
that  the  opposition  regarded  discretion  as  the 
better  part  of  valor.  If  Geers  should  come  to 
you,  and  in  his  quiet  way  say,  "Git!"  you 
would  not  stand  on  the  order  of  your  going, 
but  go  at  once. 

On  the  face  of  this  man  is  a  look  of  reserve 
power,  an  element- 

Y  Sheep  know  my  voice." 
Clothes 


may  deceive, 
manner  may  lie  and  words 
may  be  used  to  conceal 
your  purpose.  The  voice 
is  the  true  index  of  the  soul.  People 
who  are  vulgar  may  dress  correctly, 
and  speak  grammatically,  but  they 
continue  to  either  screech  or  purr. 
The  clear,  low,  musical  modulation 
belongs  only  to  the  men  and  women 
who  Think  and  Feel.  To  possess  a 
beautiful  voice  you  must  be  Genuine. 
CPeople  are  always  asking  me  to 
follow  their  advice,  but  they  are  nev- 
er willing  to  tell  which  way  it  went. 
C.The  recipe  for  perpetual  ignorance 
is:  be  satisfied  with  your  opinions 
and  content  with  your  knowledge. 
C.Be  gentle,  and  keep  your  voice  low. 


al  calm  that  carries 
conviction.  The  re- 
pose of  the  man  is 
ominous  &  his  poise 
is  fearsome.  No  one 
takes  any  liberties 
with  him.  His  look, 
his  features,  his  si- 
lence, his  attitude, 
his  moderate  move- 
ments, his  economy 
of  language  are  all 
pure  Cromwellian 
in  their  suggestive- 
ness.  Yet  he  is  a  kind 
neighbor,  a  good  cit- 
izen and  thoroughly 
respected  by  those 
who  know  him  best. 
If  Ed.  Geers  is  your 
friend,  he  is  your 
friend  in  all  weath- 
er, fair  or  foul.  His 
silence  is  the  silence 
of  General  Grant, 
and  in  many  ways 
he  is  just  as  great  a 
man;  for  please  do 
not  forget  that  Grant 
was  a  grocer  at  Galena  when  he  was  thirty- 
five  years  old,  and  not  much  of  a  grocer  at 
that.  It  was  Opportunity  that  shook  the  reins 
over  him  and  pushed  his  nose  under  the 
wire.  Grant  had  gotten  the  flag  in  every  race 
he  had  entered  up  to  1861. 
All  of  Geers's  battles  have  been  won  by  gen- 
eralship, and  I  believe  Pa  Hamlin  is  right 
when  he  says  that  Geers  is  the  greatest  horse 
general  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
Geers  is  just  fifty,  with  a  complexion  like  dark 
brick-dust,  the  result  of  wind  and  weather.  I 
make  this  explanation  because  the  man  never 
touches  intoxicants  in  any  form  and  uses  no 
tobacco.  He  is  a  trifle  lame  and  a  little 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  7 


hunched,  like  Budd  Doble,  Jack  Splan  and 
Ed.  Marvin ;  for  who  would  n't  be  after  be- 
ing in  a  score  of  mix  up  runaways,  upsets — 
racers  falling  dead,  and  six  drivers,  six 
horses  and  six  sulkies  piled  as  high  as  a  hay- 
stack, like  a  game  of  football  played  by  cen- 
taurs I  Four  times  he  has  been  carried  from 
the  track  on  a  barn  door  for  dead,  but  with 
nothing  worse  than 
a  few  broken  bones 
sticking  out  through 
his  clothes. 
And  still  Geers  lives 
&  works,  and  works 
in  joy,  for  his  per- 
fect health  is  proof 
of  that.  His  career 
has  just  begun,  he 
says,  and  yet  let  me 
tell  you  a  little  of 
what  stands  to  this 
man's  credit  on  the 
stud-book  of  fame. 
To  begin  at  the  last,  he  drove  The  Abbot  to 
his  record  of  2.03  1-4,  which  is  the  present 
world's  record  for  trotters.  Geers  drove 
Robert  J.  sixty-seven  heats  in  from  2.10  to 
2.02  1-2,  which  last,  I  believe,  is  the  fastest 
pacing  time  ever  made  in  a  race.  He  drove 
Fantasy  in  the  Grand  Circuit,  giving  her  a 
record  of  2.06,  and  winning  ten  straight  races, 
where,  in  every  instance,  the  field  got  away 
first  and  Geers  held  back,  biding  his  time. 
At  the  proper  moment  he  collared  the  leader 
on  the  home  stretch  and  sent  his  horse  under 
the  wire  first,  on  a  final  brush,  going  no 
faster  than  was  necessary.  He  has  given 
records  to  one  hundred  and  twelve  trotters 
and  pacers,  and  has  made  world  records 
twenty-three  times.  Of  course,  some  of  these 
world  records  have  since  been  beaten;  for 
instance— John  R.  Gentry  wiped  out  the 
world's  record  of  Robert  J.,  but  some  of 
Geers's  world  records  will  probably  remain. 
He  drove  Belle  Hamlin,  Justina  and  Globe, 
a  triple  team,  in  2.14.  This  tremendous  feat, 
it  must  be  remembered,  could  only  be  done 
by  driving  the  mile  without  a  skip  or  break. 
Three  horses  abreast,  or  two  abreast,  are 
racing  with  each  other,  and  if  one  goes  off 
his  feet,  it  would  be  a  miracle  to  get  him 
down  and  not  drop  at  least  ten  seconds.  An- 
other peculiar  feature  of  this  last  named 


record  is  that  all  three  of  the  horses  were 
the  produce  of  one  sire. 
As  strange  a  race  as  Geers  ever  drove  was 
when  he  started  Milan  Chimes  at  Hartford, 
July  5th,  1898.  This  horse  had  never  before 
been  in  a  race,  yet  Geers  gave  him  the  won- 
derful record  of  2.13  3-4  in  the  second  heat, 
coming  home  on  a  jog.  He  also  won  the 
third  heat  in  2.16; 
and  in  the  fifth  heat, 
while  in  the  lead  of 
the  field,  the  animal 
without  warning  fell 
dead. 

In  1899  Geers  drove 
twenty-three  races, 
straight,  and  got  the 
first  money  seven- 
teen times,  &  a  slice 
of  the  purse  in  all 
the  rest.  The  cour- 
age of  the  man  is 
sublime,  and  while 
never  courting  danger,  if  the  other  fellows 
wish  to  get  in  a  mix  up,  they  can  usually  be 
accommodated.  Geers  drives  his  horse  wher- 
ever the  horse  can  put  his  nose  through. 
C  Some  years  ago  I  used  to  own  a  few  Good 
Ones,  myself,  and  five  o'clock  every  summer 
morning  found  me  up  behind,  sending  'em 
along  a  bit.  The  serene  beauty  of  the  morn- 
ing, when  the  rising  sun  makes  the  grass 
glisten  like  diamonds  with  its  weight  of  dew, 
is  a  thing  to  hide  away  in  your  heart  and  re- 
member long.  I  do  not  get  up  quite  so  early 
now,  not  that  hot  suppers  and  fast  trolley 
rides  have  discouraged  me,  for  I  have  never 
indulged  in  such  vain  things,  but  the  habit  of 
tumbling  out  of  bed  to  capture  an  Idea,  before 
it  escapes,  has  made  the  morning  sleep  ac- 
ceptable. But  the  rides  side  by  side  with  Ed. 
Geers  in  the  early  summer  mornings,  are 
mine  even  yet.  For  often  at  exactly  4.30  I 
awake  as  I  did  ten  years  ago,  when  Ali  Baba 
used  to  feed  the  colts  and  then  call  me.  But 
I  do  not  bounce  out  now — just  turn  over  and 
dream  of  jogging  a  cheerful  chestnut  stallion 
in  the  quiet  of  the  June  morning,  when  most 
of  the  villagers  are  asleep,  and  the  hedge- 
rows are  melodious  with  the  twitter  of  birds. 
And  so,  though  I  no  longer  drive  with  Geers, 
I  dream  about  it,  and  when  we  meet  he  al- 
ways refers  to  "old  times." 


LAIN  living  and  high 
thinking  do  not  go  to- 
gether through  choice, 
for  if  you  think  high,  you 
will  not  have  the  money 
to  live  high,  and  not  having  the  mon- 
ey to  live  high,  you  live  plain. 
€.To  be  famous  is  to  be  slandered 
by  people  who  do  not  know  you,#&> 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  8 


The  other  day  Ed.  Geers  drove  up  in  front 
of  the  Shop  and  shouted  "Hello!"  I  went 
out  to  see  what  he  wanted.  He  took  a  book 
out  of  his  blouse  and  handing  it  to  me,  smiled 
half  apologetically  and  drove  away  without 
a  blessed  word. 

I  opened  the  volume  and  read  the  title-page, 
"My  Experience  with  the  Trotters:  by  Ed. 
Geers."  That  night 
I  read  the  volume 
from  cover  to  cover. 
Mr.  Geers's  book  is 
a  plain  and  simple 
statement  concern- 
ing some  of  the  prin- 
cipal horse  events 
in  this  man's  histo- 
ry. That  the  horse 
world  wants  to  know 
the  facts  set  forth, 
&  that  they  are  val- 
uable, coming  from 
such  a  man,  there  is 
no  doubt.  The  Trotting  Horse  is  a  purely 
American  Institution,  and  with  its  evolution 
Mr.  Geers  has  played  a  most  important  part. 
CLHe  tells  his  story  with  a  pleasing  direct- 
ness, as  becomes  a  man  who  is  accustomed 
to  do  things  and  not  merely  talk  about  them. 
Ed.  Geers  has  collaborated  his  intellect,  cun- 
ning and  courage  with  the  strength  of  the 
horse,  and  by  this  method  a  trotting  speed 
has  been  developed  by  him  in  hundreds  of 
horses  that  cannot  be  equaled  by  one  horse 
in  a  thousand  on  the  run. 
And  by  the  way,  Geers  was  the  first  man 
ever  to  use  a  bicycle  sulky  in  a  public  race. 
When  he  appeared  on  the  track  at  Detroit  in 
a  "bike  cart"  in  1892,  the  Grand  Stand  lifted 
a  laugh  that  could  be  heard  a  mile. 
Geers  sized  up  the  field  by  dropping  the 
first  heat,  and  then  went  in  and  took  the  next 
three,  straight.  The  talent  got  hit  hard  and 
"squealed"  to  the  judges,  declaring  the 
"bike"  a  diabolical  invention  that  pushed 
the  horse  along.  The  judges,  who  had  put 
up  small  greenish  rolls  on  Geers's  horse,  on 
the  quiet,  declared  that  the  race  was  square. 
C  Next  year  there  were  no  high  wheels  to  be 
seen  on  the  Grand  Circuit,  and  all  records 
were  knocked  off  about  four  seconds  in 
consequence. 

To  show  that  Ed.  Geers  has  a  pleasing  literary 


style,  and  also  to  prove  further  that  his  heart 
is  right,  I  give  the  following  quotation.  It  is  a 
fair  taste  of  his  quality: 
"I  do  not  believe  any  horse  ever  lived  that 
possessed  more  racing  sense,  gameness  and 
endurance  than  did  Hal  Pointer.  I  have  often 
seen  him,  after  a  hard  fought  five  heat  race, 
being  cooled  out  when  another  race  was 
called,  and  he  would 
grow  restless  &  un- 
easy and  show  by 
every  action  that  he 
wanted  to  get  back 
to  the  track  and  take 
a  hand  in  the  ex- 
citement. 

"Hal  Pointer  was  a 
difficult  horse  to  get 
to  score  fast,  and 
was  always  slow  in 
getting  away.  He  did 
not  seem  to  be  im- 
bued with  the  neces- 
sity of  winning  the  heat  until  the  middle  or 
latter  part  of  the  mile  had  been  reached,  and 
then  he  would  bend  all  his  mighty  energies 
in  an  endeavor  to  first  reach  the  wire,  and 
very  few  horses  were  ever  able  to  withstand 
his  terrific  rush.  He  never  required,  and 
would  not  endure  punishment.  Once  when 
I  was  giving  him  a  work-out  he  did  some- 
thing I  did  not  like  and  I  struck  him  with  the 
whip  twice,  and  in  spite  of  everything  I  could 
do,  he  ran  three  miles  before  I  could  stop 
him.  I  never  tried  it  again,  and  in  all  the 
races  I  ever  drove  him  I  never  did  anything 
more  than  carry  the  whip  over  him,  and  when 
I  wanted  some  extra  speed  I  would  shake  it 
at  him.  I  gave  him  a  record  of  2.04  1-2,  which 
was  the  world's  record  at  that  time. 
"It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  many  good 
horses,  after  their  days  of  usefulness  are 
over,  and  they  are  no  longer  able  to  earn 
money  for  their  owners,  are,  through  avarice 
or  want  of  sympathy,  either  killed  or  com- 
pelled to  eke  out  a  miserable  existence  doing 
drudgery  for  strangers,  when,  by  reason  of 
their  past  services,  they  should  be  tenderly 
cared  for  by  those  whom  they  have  faithfully 
served.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  no  hardships 
of  this  kind  are  in  store  for  grand  old  Hal 
Pointer.  I  am  giving  him  just  enough  light 
road  work  for  exercise,  driving  back  and 


CIENCE  has  explained 
many  things,  but  it  has  not 
yet  told  why  it  sometimes 
happens  that  when  seven- 
I  teen  eggs  are  hatched,  the 
brood  will  consist  of  sixteen  barn- 
yard fowls  and  one  eagle. 
*L Verily,  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are 
in 


Set  of  Roycroft  Backs 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  9 


forth  from  Village  Farm  to  the  Jewett  cov- 
ered track.  I  generally  drive  him  over  to  the 
hotel  at  East  Aurora  and  hitch  him  under  a 
shed  when  I  go  to  dinner.  He  is  very  fond  of 
carrots,  and  I  always  intend  to  put  three  in 
my  pocket  and  feed  him  two  before  I  go  to 
dinner  and  the  other  when  I  am  ready  to 
start  back.  If  I  have  the  carrots  for  him,  he 

seems  perfectly  sat-   

isfied  and  will  be  |HT "/ jimT  WlF  N 
cheerful  all  the  rest 
of  the  day;  but  if  I 
forget  them,  he  is 
mad  and  acts  as  ill- 
natured  as  does  a 
smoker  when  he  is 
deprived  of  the  after 
dinner  cigar." 
The  writer  sincere- 
ly hopes  that  the  fol- 
lowing epitaph  will 
not  have  to  be  used 
for  many  years: 
"Here  sleeps,  wind- 
ed, Honest  Old  Ed. 
Geers.  His  pedi- 
gree was  short,  but 
as  an  individual  he 
was  away  up;  and 
by  performance  he 
was  Standard.  The 
slice  he  took  of  this 
world's  Purse  was 
ample,  so  he  has  no 
kick  coming.  He  was 
never  known  to  sass 
the  Starter,  and  he 
has  perfect  faith  that 
when  the  bell  rings 
at  the  Last  Great 
Day,  the  Decision 
will  be  that  he  trot- 
ted Life's  Race  on 
the  Level,  and  his 

Soul  will  then  be  led  away  to  roam,  bare- 
footed, in  the  Cloverfields  of  the  Blest." 

■ MODEL  SCHOOL.  Everything  is 
comparative.  If  you  have  not  seen  the 
best  it  is  quite  easy  to  be  content  with 
something  else.  Aye,  men  have  been  known 
to  wax  boastful  over  a  thing  that  was  ex- 
tremely faulty,  and  to  declare  that  the  pattern 


of  the  thing  came  from  On  High.  And  so 
sometimes  you  hear  the  orators  tell  of  the 
Little  Red  Schoolhouse,  and  from  their  de- 
scriptions one  might  suppose  that  the  public 
school  system  of  America  was  a  realization 
of  the  Ideal. 

Before  pursuing  the  subject  further,  let  me 
say  that  any  man  who  would  ridicule  our 
public  schools  or  at- 


toil  and  sweat  and 
struggle  and  chase  the 
seasons  'round  the  globe. 
To  escape  the  winter  they 
go  to  Florida,  and  to  get 
away  from  the  summer,  to  the  North 
Cape  and  Alaska.  Money  is  the  thing 
for  which  they  tempt  paresis,  money 
that  they  may  go  to  Saratoga  and 
have  peace,  they  say.  Peace?  There 
is  no  peace  unless  you  sit  down  and 
wait  for  it  to  catch  up ! 
CLHe  who  influences  the  thought  of 
his  times,  influences  all  the  times 
that  follow.  He  has  made  his  im- 
press on  eternity. 

C.  Women  under  thirty  seldom  know 
much,  unless  Fate  has  been  kind 
and  cuffed  them  thoroughly. 
CJt  is  only  in  prosperity  that  we 
throw  our  friends  overboard. 
ClThe  ideas  that  benefit  a  man  are 
seldom  welcomed  by  him  on  first 
presentation 


tempt  to  depreciate 
the  splendid  work 
that  the  teachers  are 
doing,  is  a  person 
devoid  of  discern- 
ment and  lacking  in 
knowledge.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  school- 
teachers in  America 
do  more  work  for 
less  pay  than  any 
other  class  of  per- 
sons with  equal  in- 
telligence that  can 
be  named.  And  the 
love,  loyalty,  devo- 
tion &  patience  that 
is  shown  in  the  work 
by  many  teachers  in 
ourpublicschoolsis 
worthy  of  the  high- 
est esteem.  And  the 
teaching  timber  is 
continually  improv- 
ing— I  know  that.  I 
am  quite  aware  that 
the  schoolroom  that 
does  not  now  have 
manytracesofbeau- 
ty  and  attempts  at 
harmony,  is  excep- 
tional. I  know,  too, 
that  kindness  &  pa- 
tience are  now  to  be 


found  where  once 
was  force  approaching  brutality.  The  world 
is  certainly  getting  better. 
However,  the  man  who  would  say  that  the 
public  schools  of  America  approach  perfec- 
tion, has  a  very  crude  intellect.  The  teach- 
ers, for  the  most  part,  know  this,  but  they 
are  cabined,  cribbed,  confined  by  the  gro- 
cers, butchers,  busy  doctors  and  the  shyster 
lawyers  who  compose  the  School  Board. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  10 


The  "Board"  very  rarely  contains  a  man 
who  either  thinks  or  feels.  In  fact,  the  only 
thing  to  which  he  usually  responds  is  the 
crack  of  the  party  lash. 
In  talking  with  a  School  Trustee  a  few  days 
ago,  he  remarked  to  me,  "Why,  be  gosh, 
these  'ere  teachers  get  more  pay  than  car- 
penters—  and  lookee!  they  only  work  six 
hours  a  day,  and  not 


a  tap  do  they  do 
either  on  Saturday 
or  Sunday!"  That 
remark  symbols  the 
mental  calibre  of  at 
least  one  half  the 
School  Trustees  & 
School  Directors  in 
this  land  of  the  par- 
tially free.  This  be- 
ingthecase,themar- 
vel  is  that  our  public 
schools  are  as  good 
as  they  are;  but  the 
salvation  of  the  mat- 
ter lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  average  of- 
ficial never  visits  the 
school  at  all,  and  so 
knows  blessed  little 
about  what  is  being 
done  there.  While 
the  School  Trustee 
does  not  meddle,  yet 
his  Ponderous  In- 
ertia is  there,  and 
this  has  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

And  yet  we  are  mak- 
ing good  head.  Such 
fine  High  Schools 
as  those  at  Spring- 
field,Mass., Duluth, 
Minn.,  and  Joliet, 
111.,  are  usually  the 

conception  of  one  man,  and  are  carried  out 
by  an  entrepreneur  who  can  mold  men  and 
things  to  his  liking. 

Yet  exceptional  and  superb  as  are  the  schools 
I  have  mentioned  above,  they  are  only  called 
"complete"  by  the  man  who  does  not  know 
something  better.  Very  rarely  can  one  find  a 
High  School  where  the  building  is  not  over- 
crowded, the  teachers  overworked  and  un- 


derpaid. I  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
schools  of  America,  and  I  believe  the  only 
High  School  in  the  United  States  that  ap- 
proaches completeness  in  plant,  plan,  curri- 
culum and  teaching  force,  is  the  Stout  School 
of  Menomonie,  Wisconsin.  The  buildings, 
furniture  and  apparatus  at  this  institution 
represent  an  outlay  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
dollars,  and  this  in  a 

HE  success  of  every  great 
man  hinges  right  on  that 
one  thing — to  pick  your 
men  to  do  the  work.  The 
efforts  of  any  one  man 
so  very  little!  It  all  de- 


count  for 

pends  on  the  selection  and  manage 
ment  of  men  to  carry  out  your  plans. 
In  every  successful  concern,  wheth- 
er it  be  bank,  school,  factory,  steam- 
ship company  or  railroad,  the  spirit 
of  one  man  runs  through  and  ani- 
mates the  entire  institution.  The 
success  or  failure  of  the  enterprise 
turns  on  the  mental,  moral  and  spir- 
itual qualities  of  this  one  man.  And 
the  leader  who  can  imbue  an  army 
of  workers  with  a  spirit  of  earnest 
fidelity  to  duty,  an  unswerving  de- 
sire to  do  the  thing  that  should  be 
done,  and  always  with  animation, 
kindness,  courtesy  and  good  cheer, 
must  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  great 
men  of  the  earth^^^^^b,^^^^ 


village  of  four  thou- 
sand people.  And 
just  bear  in  mind 
that  twenty  thous- 
and dollars  builds  a 
pretty  good  school- 
house,  and  even  half 
this  sum  provides  a 
very  good  brickpile. 
CThis  school  has 
the  best  that  money 
canbuyinthewayof 
sanitary  appliances; 
the  building  is  heat- 
ed with  steam,  and 
lighted  by  electrici- 
ty from  a  plant  on 
the  premises. 
Here  is  the  Kinder- 
garten, Sloyd,  Man- 
ual Training  in  way 
of  carpentry,  black- 
smithing,  molding, 
lathe  work,  and  an 
electrical  laborato- 
ry. In  addition,  for 
the  girls,  are  sewing, 
garment  cutting  and 
cooking.  In  the  High 
School  department 
is  the  regular  curric- 
ulum, such  as  is  al- 
ways found  in  any 
well  appointed  High 
School,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  a  very  excellent  chemical  and  phy- 
sical laboratory;  and  a  department  of  draw- 
ing and  clay  modeling,  quite  as  good  in 
degree  as  are  to  be  found,  well,  at  the  Chi- 
cago Art  Institute. 

All  this  is  free  for  the  use  of  pupils  residing 
in  the  township.  It  represents  a  course  of 
fifteen  years'  study.  And  the  pupil,  who,  say, 
graduates  at  the  Masten  Park  High  School  in 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  11 


Buffalo,  goes  for  two  years  to  Phillips' 
Exeter,  and  four  years  at  Harvard,  cannot 
get  as  much  as  the  pupil  can  get  right  there 
in  the  village  of  Menomonie,  leaving  out,  of 
course,  the  advantages  of  associations  and 
traditions;  but  these,  I  believe,  are  offset  by 
the  Art  and  Manual  Training. 
The  cleanliness,  order,  solidity,  excellence 
and  beauty  of  this 
school  are  unsur- 
passed. And  when 
the  new  gymnasium 
—at  a  cost  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars — 
is  complete,  with  its 
swimming  pools  & 
apparatus,  all  under 
the  care  of  a  compe- 
tent physician  and 
physical  director, 
Menomonie  can  ex- 
hibit a  bit  of  Athens 
in  the  time  of  Per- 
icles. €1  This  beau- 
tiful dream  is  being 
realized  through  the 
munificence  of  one 
citizen — which,  of 
course,  is  under- 
stood, for  the  tax- 
payers in  no  com- 
munity would  sub- 
mit to  such  "extra- 
vagance." And  yet 
in  hundreds  of  our 
towns  &  cities  there 
are  men  who  could 
do  for  their  places 
of  residence  what 
this  wise  and  gen- 
erous man  has  done 
for  Menomonie. 
One  more  item  con- 
cerning the  Meno- 
monie School  may  be  of  interest,  and  this  is 
that  it  is  the  intention  of  the  management  to 
pay  the  men  teachers  and  women  teachers 
the  same,  and  this  amount  means  man's  pay, 
not  woman's. 

fgm  MAN  AND  HIS  DAUGHTER.  Five 
W£M  miles  up  the  creek  from  East  Aurora 
UBa  is  the  village  of  South  Wales.  Society 


F  COURSE  we  shall  all 
die  (I  '11  admit  that),  and 
further,  we  may  be  a  long 
time  dead  ( I  '11  admit  that), 
and  further,  we  may  be 
going  through  the  world  for  the  last 
time — as  to  that  I  do  not  know — 
while  we  are  here  it  seems  the  part 
of  reason  to  devote  our  energies  to 
that  which  brings  us  as  few  heart- 
pangs  to  ourselves  and  others  as  pos- 
sible. We  are  here,  and  some  day  we 
must  go,  and  surely  we  would  like 
to  depart  gracefully  J£&&^> 
CWhen  two  men  of  equal  intelli- 
gence and  sincerity  quarrel,  both  are 
probably  right. 

CHave  n't  you  ever  felt  that  the 
prince  is  as  good  as  the  pauper,  even 
if  he  is  no  better? 

Cln  ethics  you  cannot  better  the 
Golden  Rule. 

CReserve  your  best  thoughts  for  the 
elect  fa\v&^&®>&®>&&&®>&8:>&®!> 


there  centers  around  a  schoolhouse  where 
the  Presbyterians  hold  service  each  Sunday 
morning,  and  the  Methodists  in  the  after- 
noon. South  Wales  has  two  stores,  a  black- 
smith shop  and  a  town  pump  where  you 
always  water  your  horse  and  get  a  drink  for 
luck.  The  first  turning  to  the  left  after  the 
four  corners,  where  the  pump  stands,  up  on 
the  hillside,  second 
house  on  the  right, 
lives  a  fine  Philis- 
tine, beloved  by  all 
who  can  appreciate 
plain,hard, common 
sense,  a  dash  of  wit, 
and  stern  honesty 
of  purpose. 
This  good  man  was 
a  Forty-niner,  but 
for  some  unknown 
reason  things  with 
him  never  panned. 
His  motto  once  was, 
"Pike's  Peak  or 
bust."  He  reached 
Pike's  Peak  &  man- 
aged to  get  back  to 
East  Aurora  busted. 
CiSome  one  loaned 
him  money  to  buy  a 
team  and  a  few  im- 
plements, and  he  got 
a  farm  where  boul- 
ders grew  lush  and 
lusty.  There  was  no 
market  for  boulders 
then.  When  crops 
were  good,  things 
did  not  bring  any 
price,  and  when  the 
prices  were  high 
there  was  nothing 
much  to  sell. 
However,  the  man 
and  his  wife  managed  to  get  a  living,  and 
send  their  boy  and  girl  down  to  East  Aurora 
to  school — the  boy  going  in  the  winter  and 
the  girl  attending  the  spring  and  fall  terms. 
C  And  so  the  years  passed,  as  the  years  will. 
CBut  there  came  an  evil  day  when  Deacon 
P.  closed  in  on  his  mortgage,  and  the  occu- 
pants of  the  old  farm  found  themselves  just 
exactly  where  they  were  when  they  took  the 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  12 


place  twenty  years  before.  C  Then  it  was 
that  the  Philistine  and  his  family  moved  to 
South  Wales,  first  turning  after  you  leave 
the  town  pump,  second  house  on  the  right. 
II  They  raised  bees,  and  as  the  mother  was 
now  the  business  man,  they  got  along  first- 
rate— why,  their  income  one  year  was  three 
hundred  and  eighty  dollars— think  of  that! 
Yesterday  I  water- 
ed my  saddle-mare, 
"Garnet,"  at  the 
South  Wales  town 
pump,  &  then  took 
the  first  turning  to 
the  left.  At  the  sec- 
ond house  on  the 
right  an  old  man 
with  white  hair  and 
a  long  white  beard 
sat  in  a  chair  on  the 
front  veranda.  By 
his  side,  just  below 
him,  seated  in  the 
doorway,  her  hand 
in  his,  was  an  au- 
burn haired  young 
woman,  say  thirty 
years  of  age. 

Don't  speak,  don't 
speak!"  called  the 
old  man  in  a  loud 
voice,  as  I  reined 
in.  "Don't  speak! 
I 've  bet  Maud  fifty 
cents  that  it  is  Col- 
onel Littlejourneys; 
I  know  the  one- two- 
three-four  step  of 
thathorse— Oh!you 
can't  fool  me! "said 
the  man  cheerily. 
The  man  and  his 
daughter  are  blind. 
<ll  tied  my  horse, 

and  went  in.  There  were  merry  greetings, 
much  asking  after  the  folks,  and  urgent  de- 
mands that  I  should  put  my  horse  in  the 
barn  and  remain  to  dinner. 
"Oh,  but  that  Mozart  was  bad!"  said  Maud. 
"Why  did  n't  you  give  the  colored  man  a 
dollar  and  let  him  throw  it  after  the  first 
one!" 

"What 's  the  Ashtabula  Disaster  got  to  do 


with  Mozart?"  demanded  the  old  man  in 
pretended  wrath. 

'What  business  have  you  to  know  anything 
about  literature,  music  or  art?"  I  demanded  in 
turn.  "Why,  you  are  nothing  but  a  farmer! " 
11  "I  used  to  be  a  farmer,  but  now  I  am  a 
literary  critic.  I 'm  what  you  call  a  dilettante, 
for  I  even  have  some  one  to  read  for  me!" 

C  "Surely,  Papa  is 

ND  if  you  ask  me  what  a 
millionaire  is  I 'd  say,  he 
is  one  who  has  discover- 
ed a  weakness  in  mankind 
and  then  fans  and  feeds 


it  for  a  consideration.  You  may  make 
a  good  comfortable  living  supplying 
the  legitimate  wants  of  men,  but  you 
cannot  accumulate  a  million  dollars 
until  you  know  how  to  prey  upon 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  your  fellows. 
4L  It  does  not  make  much  difference 
what  a  man  studies — all  knowledge 
is  related,  and  the  man  who  studies 
anything  if  he  keeps  at  it  will  be- 
come learned. 

I  Sing  Sing  has  several  men  who 
were  sent  there  simply  because  they 
had  Axminster  desires  and  rag  car- 
pet capacities. 

€L  Man  creates  both  his  god  and  his 
devil  in  his  own  image.  His  god  is 
himself  at  his  best  and  his  devil  is 
himself  at  his  worst 


right,  Colonel— we 
are  not  only  dilet- 
tanti, but  aristo- 
crats—why, we 've 
a  bank  account!" 
said  Maud. 
"Indeed,"  I  replied. 
4l  "Why,  yes,  you 
know  Jack  is  get- 
ting along  famously 
at  his  work.  He  is 
the  supervising  ar- 
chitect at  San  Fran- 
cisco for  a  govern- 
ment building  that 
will  cost  a  million 
dollars.  And  then  he 
built  the  Crocker 
Hotel,  &  when  the 
Crocker  Estate  gave 
him  a  check  for  nine 
thousand  dollars  for 
his  services, whatdo 
you  think  he  did?" 
C"I  could  never 
guess!" 

Why,  he  sent  us  a 
New  York  draft  for 
a  thousand  dollars 
—  that 's  the  way  we 
got  our  large  bank 
account." 

The  old  man  got  up 
and  I  followed  him 
into  the  house.  He 
groped  his  way  to  a  bureau  drawer  &  brought 
forth  the  book  which  he  insisted  I  examine. 
C  "How  much  is  it  to  our  credit?"  he  de- 
manded. 

"A  thousand  dollars,"  I  answered. 
"What  did  I  tell  you!"  was  his  proud  an- 
swer. 

It  was  n't  the  money  so  much,  either;  it  was 
the  consciousness  that  Jack  was  succeeding 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


—Jack  who  had  plowed  and  sowed  and 
reaped  and  cultivated  stone  bruises!  Jack 
who  had  gone  to  the  East  Aurora  "Acade- 
my" in  winter  and  then  taught  school,  and 
gone  to  the  Boston  Tech,  and  won  a  Foreign 
Travel  Scholarship,  and  worked  in  McKim, 
Mead  &  White's  (because  they  wanted  a  first- 
class  man)  and  then  had  gone  to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  was  mak- 
ing a  fortune — that 
is  what  made  Jack's 
sister  and  Jack's  fa- 
ther so  proud  and 
happy.  There  was 
only  one  thing  that 
blurred  their  joy — 
Mother  did  n't  live 
to  know  of  Jack's 
success.  Of  course, 
she  knew  he  would 
succeed,  but  she 
grew  tired,  so  tired, 
and  fell  asleep  and 
did  n't  awake,  and 
that  was  four  years 
ago. 

"Let  us  show  you 
our  photographs  of 
some  of  Jack's  fine 
buildings,"  said  the 
old  man. 

He  arose  &  started 
for  a  little  side  bedroom,  the  spare  room. 
Maud  was  going  after  the  photographs,  too, 
and  they  met  in  the  door-jamb  and  stuck 
there  like  Humpty  Dumpty  and  Pantaloon. 
There  were  mutual  apologies  and  finally  the 
photographs  were  brought  forth,  the  father 
leading  the  daughter  and  the  daughter  lead- 
ing the  father,  and  each  cautioning  the  other 
to  look  out  for  the  big  rocking-chair. 
I  took  the  photographs  in  my  hand,  and  sight- 
less eyes  gazed  into  vacancy  over  my  head. 
I  tried  to  look  at  the  pictures,  but  could  n't 
see  them  for  the  tears  that  were  running  down 
my  nose.  Luckily  no  one  saw  me  mopping, 
fl  Why  did  I  cry?  Really  I  do  not  know — 
perhaps  I  cried  because  I  am  a  fool,  and 
think  sometimes  I  have  troubles,  when  there 
is  no  trouble  and  no  calamity  excepting 
to  those  who  think  trouble  and  recognize 
calamity. 

I  bade  my  dear  friends  good-bye  out  there 


Page  13 

on  the  little  veranda.  The  summer  breeze 
stole  through  the  wistaria  and  kissed  the 
flowing  white  locks  of  the  old  man,  and  car- 
essed the  golden  hair  of  the  young  woman, 
as  they  stood  there  hand  in  hand. 
I  mounted  my  horse  and  rode  away  down 
the  dusty  road.  I  took  the  first  turning  to  the 
right,  and  looked  back  as  I  passed  the  corner. 

C  The  father  and 
daughter  were  still 
standing  there,  mo- 
tionless. Their  faces 
were  raised,  &  they 
were  looking  away 
over  me,  complete- 
ly over  me,  looking 
clear  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  Jack  is. 
€l  I  thought  of  a  lit- 
tle book  that  was  in 
my  side  pocket.  I 
had  been  reading  it 
that  very  morning. 
I  took  the  volume 
out  and  read  the 
title:  Where  Love 
Is,  There  Is  God. 

MmORK  IS  FOR 
II Wl  THE  WO  R  K- 
IHjlER.  Work  is 
for  the  worker!  Did 
I  say  that  once  before?  Very  well,  I  think  I 
will  print  it  twelve  times  a  year.  Work  is  for 
the  worker. 

We  become  robust  only  through  exercise, 
and  every  faculty  of  the  mind  and  every 
attribute  of  the  soul  grows  strong  only  as  it 
is  exercised.  So  you  would  better  exercise 
only  your  highest  and  best,  else  you  may 
give  strength  to  habits  or  inclinations  that 
may  master  you,  to  your  great  disadvantage. 
41  Work  is  for  the  worker,  and  work  is  a 
blessing.  The  Bible  does  not  teach  that — it 
teaches  that  work  is  a  form  of  punishment, 
and  only  a  very  grim  necessity  at  the  best. 
Even  the  new  testament  is  full  of  sympathy 
and  condolences  for  the  bearer  of  burdens 
and  those  who  are  heavy  laden.  There  is 
much  about  looking  forward  to  sweet  rest  in 
heaven,  but  not  a  word  about  getting  on  to 
your  job.  Heaven,  to  many,  is  a  long  rest, 
and  no  religion  has  ever  pictured  a  paradise 


III 


HIS  world  of  ours,  round 
like  an  orange  and  slight- 
ly flattened  at  the  poles, 
is  the  home  of  a  class  of 
men  and  women  who 
make  up  the  Holy  Order  of  the 
Elect.  The  initiates,  strange  to  say, 
know  not  of  their  membership  and 
for  the  most  part  never  heard  of  the 
Order.  They  may  be  rich  or  poor, 
college-bred  or  unlearned,  bond  or 
free,  but  between  their  spirits  ever 
is  a  mystic  tie  of  brotherhood — they 
recognize  each  other  at  sight.  They 
are  the  people  who  preserve  the 
receptive  heart  and  hospitable  mind. 


(M)NTKMPLATIONS 


Page  14 


m 


where  happiness  came  through  useful  activ- 
ity. No  wonder  that  the  jolly,  jolly  mariners, 
sitting  forevermore  on  the  windless  glassy 
floor,  grew  a-weary  of  the  monotony. 
C  There  are  no  glad  congratulations  in  the 
Bible  for  the  man  who  has  found  his  work 
—only  pity.  And  then,  where  in  holy  writ 
do  you  find  the  statement  of  this  patent  truth: 
There  is  a  certain 
amount  of  work  to 
do  in  the  world,  and 
the  reason  some 
folks  have  to  work 
from  daylight  until 
dark,  is  because 
many  other  folks 
never  work  at  all. 
It  was  a  Philistine 
who  had  to  discover 
that,  and  voice  that. 
C A  certain  amount 
of  work  is  very  nec- 
essary to  growth. 
Work  is  a  blessing, 
not  a  curse,  because 
through  it  we  ac- 
quire strength  — 
strength  of  mind 
&  strength  of  body. 
To  carry  a  respon- 
sibility gives  a  sense 
of  power.  Men  who 


Q  But  Paul  was  blind  and  deaf  to  love  in  its 
essence.  He  regards  love  as  a  weakness  and 
says,  "It  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn." 
All  he  has  to  say  on  equality  is,  "  Let  women 
learn  in  silence  in  all  due  subjection,"  and 
"If  a  woman  would  have  knowledge  let  her 
ask  her  husband."  No  wonder  the  thought 
is  appalling  of  a  woman  reduced  to  the  mea- 
a  ,      ,  gre  source  of  gain- 

Y  KAN  N  Y  and  intolerance  ing  knowledge  from 

her  husband!  And 
nothing  about  the 
woman  who  teaches 
her  husband  lots  of 
things  he  never  be- 
fore guessed!  Then 
what  of  the  women 
who  have  no  hus- 
bands—must they 
forever  sit  in  dark- 
ness? 

C  Woe  are  we — ca- 
lamity is  upon  us! 
And  even  that  wis- 
est of  Americans, 
Benjamin  Franklin, 
did  n't  know  much 
about  the  subject, 
for  in  his  Advice  to 
a  Young  Man,  he 
gives  this  astute 
"All  cats 


always  drive  from  their 
homes  the  best :  those  who 
have  ability  to  think,  cou- 
rage to  act,  and  a  pride 
that  cannot  be  coerced. 
CThe  Peace  Congress  can  cease  its 
labors,  for  the  question  of  war  is 
gradually  solving  itself  in  this  coun- 
try: no  man  but  a  janitor  will  go  to 
war  in  defense  of  a  flat. 
CThe  selfish  wish  to  govern  is  often 
mistaken  for  a  holy  zeal  in  the  cause 
of  humanity. 

CTo  be  gay  your  life  must  be  one 
that  suffers  no  surfeit 


have  borne  responsibility  know  how  to  carry 
it,  and  with  heads  erect,  and  the  burden  well 
adjusted  on  their  shoulders,  they  move  stead- 
ily forward.  Those  who  do  not  know  better, 
drag  their  burdens  behind  them  with  a  rope. 
CWe  grow  strong  through  assuming  re- 
sponsibilities—by bearing  burdens  and  do- 
ing things,  we  acquire  power. 
CLove  is  for  the  lover — Love  for  Love's 
sake.  That  is  just  as  new,  just  as  modern  as 
that  work  is  for  the  worker.  The  Bible  says 
nothing  about  the  love  of  a  man  and  woman 
being  a  blessing  for  its  own  sake.  The  men 
who  wrote  the  Bible  knew  no  more  about  it 
than  they  knew  of  the  practical  value  of 
electricity.  Love  for  its  own  sake  is  a  new 
proposition. 

C  Solomon  knew  nothing  of  it.  The  New 
Testament  is  not  wholly  silent,  however,  for 
it  gives  a  glimmer  when  the  Master  defends 
the  woman  by  saying,  "She  loved  much." 


aphorism, 

are  grey  in  the  dark."  CLove  for  propagation. 
CLove  for  gratification. 
CLove  for  a  home  and  darned  stockings. 
COne  of  the  above  reasons,  or  a  mixture  of 
all,  was  the  highest  philosophy  that  George 
Washington  could  bring  to  bear  on  the  sub- 
ject. And  he  failed  in  each  and  every  count, 
if  Paul  Leicester  Ford  is  to  be  trusted. 
C  And  yet  the  wisdom  of  Washington  in  this 
line  represents  the  wisdom  of  the  ages,  until 
yesterday. 

CNow  we  add  a  fourth  reason  and  we  place 
first  on  the  list:  Love  for  Love's  sake.  The 
other  reasons  remain  for  those  who  wish 
them.  The  embrace  of  a  man  and  woman  in 
a  thought  is  sublime.  Few  men,  comparative- 
ly, have  known  this  joy,  for  the  reason  that 
St.  Paul's  doctrine  has  been  accepted  by 
men  and  women  alike,  and  the  idea  has  been 
everywhere  held  that  women  were  lacking 
in  think  capacity.  Women  thought  they  could 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  15 


not  think,  and  so  they  did  not.  This  is  shown 
in  the  use  of  the  word  "obey,"  and  the  man- 
ifold legislation  everywhere  that  has  disfran- 
chised women. 

Yesterday  woman  was  a  chattel;  now  she  is, 
in  law,  a  minor;  to-morrow  she  may  be  free 
— or  partially  so,  that  is  to  say,  as  free  as  man. 
CL  These  changes  have  gradually  come  about 
through  isolated 
discoveries  that  a 
woman  might  be  a 
man's  comrade  and 
friend — that  a  man 
and  woman  might 
be  mental  mates. 
Then  for  the  first 
time  there  existed 
honesty  in  the  rela- 
tion, for  surely,  I 
do  not  have  to  prove 
that  honesty  be- 
tween master  and 
slave  is  either  an 
accident  or  a  bar- 
ren ideality? 
Love  for  its  own 
sake  can  only  ex- 
ist between  a  man 
and  woman  men- 
tally mated,  for  on- 
ly then  is  complete, 
unqualified,  honest 
and  frank  expres- 
sion possible. 
Men  who  marry 
for  gratification, 
propagation  or  the 
matter  of  buttons  & 
socks,  must  expect  to  cope  with  and  deal 
in  a  certain  amount  of  quibble,  subterfuge, 
concealment  and  double,  deep-dyed  prevar- 
ication. And  these  things  will  stain  the  fabric 
of  the  souls  of  those  who  juggle  them,  and 
leave  their  mark  upon  futurity. 
The  fusion  of  two  minds  in  an  idea  has 
given  a  new  joy  to  the  race,  a  zest  to  life, 
and  a  reason  for  living. 
Love  is  for  the  lover. 

And  in  this  new  condition,  where  the  men- 
tal equality  of  woman  is  being  acknowledged, 
there  will  be  no  tyranny  and  therefore  no 
concealment  and  untruth.  There  will  be  sim- 
plicity and  frankness,  and  these  are  the 


LL  men  recognize  in  their 
hearts  that  they  must  have 
the  good  will  of  some 
other  men.  To  be  sepa- 
rated from  your  kind  is 
death  and  to  have  their  good  will  is 
life — and  this  desire  for  sympathy 
and  this  alone  shapes  conduct.  We 
are  governed  by  public  opinion,  and 
until  we  regard  mankind  as  our 
friends  and  all  men  as  brothers  so 
long  will  men  combine  in  sects  and 
cliques  and  keep  the  millenium  of 
Peace  and  Good-will  a  very  dim  and 
distant  thing. 

H  Responsibilities  gravitate  to  the 
person  who  can  shoulder  them,  and 
power  flows  to  the  man  who  knows 
how. 

CL  Cultivate  poise  r$s& 


essence  of  comradeship.  And  where  there  is 
comradeship  there  can  love  and  reason  walk 
hand  in  hand. 
Love  and  Reason  f 

Love  for  its  own  sake,  with  honesty  and  truth 
for  counsel  and  guide,  is  the  highest  good. 
It  is  the  supreme  endowment  of  God.  And 
under  these  conditions  he  who  loves  most 
is  most  blessed, 
ft.  Love  and  owner- 
ship. 

Love  and  "rights." 
C  Love  and  finesse. 
CLove  and  man- 
agement. 

These  things  are 
very  old,  but  Love 
and  Reason  is  a 
new  combination. 
And  it  can  only  ex- 
ist where  there  is 
the  unconditional 
admission  of  equal- 
ity. Such  a  partner- 
ship means  a  doub- 
ling of  every  intel- 
lectual joy,  and  an 
increased  sympa- 
thy with  every  liv- 
ing thing,  a  oneness 
that  knows  no  limit. 
It  means  Univer- 
sality. 

We  reach  God 
through  the  love  of 
One.  We  can  gain 
the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  by  having 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  in  our  hearts. 
CL  Love  for  Love's  sake — there  is  nothing 
better. 

It  sweetens  every  act  of  life. 

Love  grows  by  giving. 

Insight,  sympathy,  faith,  knowledge  and 

love  are  the  results  of  love — they  are  the 

children  of  parents  mentally  mated. 

Love  for  Love's  sake. 

f||fllANDICRAFT  IN  PRISONS. Inmost 
iral  Penitentiaries  and  prisons  manufac- 
MjBbI  turing  plants  have  been  installed  by 
the  State.  The  object  of  the  plants  is:  First, 
to  work  a  reformation  in  the  prisoners  by 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  16 


useful  industry.  Second,  to  make  the  institu- 
tion self-supporting. 

CThis  scheme,  introduced  with  the  best  of 
motives,  has  failed  in  its  intent  on  both 
counts.  I  will  grant,  of  course,  that  any  kind 
of  work  is  better  than  idleness,  and  it  is  fur- 
ther admitted  that  a  certain  profit  has  been 
realized  from  the  labor  of  the  prisoners, 
that  has  gone  to 


ward  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  institu- 
tion. But  the  origi- 
nal proposition 
stands,  that  work  as 
carried  on  in  pris- 
ons is  not  a  success, 
either  morally  or 
financially. 
CThe  cause  of  the 
moral  failure  lies  in 
the  fact  that  work  in 
every  prison  is  re- 
garded by  wardens, 
keepers,  overseers, 
and  prisoners  as  a 
form  of  punish- 
ment. The  guards 
do  not  work  —  the 
prisoners  do. 
<l  The  financial  fail- 
ure, I  believe,  is  be- 
cause the  industries 
introduced  have 
been,  almost  with- 
out exception,  of  a 
kind  and  quality  in 
which  competition 
has  been  most  keen 

&  profits  too  close  for  an  easy  management. 
41  The  work  has  demanded  little  skill,  and 
provided  the  largest  amount  of  monotony.  It 
has  been  assumed  that  "jail-birds"  are  not 
skilled,  &  so  the  articles  manufactured  have 
been  of  the  cheapest  and  most  flimsy  sort. 
ii Men  are  set  to  work  on  parts  and  kept 
there  without  hope  of  promotion.  Furniture 
of  the  cheapest  kind  now  forms  a  staple  in 
many  prisons;  and  the  men  who  work  at  it 
feed  things  into  machines  day  after  day, 
month  after  month,  year  after  year.  They  are 
not  allowed  to  talk  to  other  prisoners,  nor 
even  to  carry  materials.  They  do  not  express 
themselves,  excepting  by  stealth.  They  do 


one  thing,  and  nothing  else,  and  this  a  thing 
that  affords  no  mental  stimulus,  and  adds 
nothing  to  the  man's  usefulness. 
CThe  man  who  stands  there  at  that  machine 
has  no  interest  or  pride  in  his  work.  He  is 
given  a  stint  and  compelled  to  do  it;  and  as 
he  works  he  is  conscious  that  a  guard  with 
loaded  rifle,  death  in  hand,  is  watching  him. 

ft,  Only  one  man  is 

TRANSPORT  of  power, 


bursting  from  pent-up 
feeling,  carries  us  along 
on  its  tide  and  compen- 
sates for  a  deal  of  what 
an  Oxford  man  pointed  out  to  me 
as  "bad  taste."  Over-culture  pro- 
duces a  weak  effeminacy;  and  were 
it  not  for  those  strong,  vital,  "rude" 
people  that  God  sends  into  the 
world,  spiritual  life  would  perish  as 
rose  trees  perish  when  the  cunning 
gardener  turns  pollen  to  petal.  The 
flower  cannot  reproduce  itself — 
its  reserve  has  been  expended  in 
this  one  production.  Too  much  cul- 
ture kills. 

C.A  pedigree  may  be  a  matter  of 
pride,  but  it  is  not  consoling  to  am- 


suffering  deteriora- 
tion faster  than  the 
prisoner,  &  that  is 
the  piece  of  moral 
punk  who  holds  the 
rifle.  Every  guard 
in  every  prison  is 
elected  to  be  damn- 
ed^ the  prisoner's 
chances  of  reforma- 
tion are  not  much 
better.  In  passing  it 
is  well  to  note  the 
fact  that  in  point  of 
virtue  a  prison 
guard  stands  about 
on  a  level  with  the 
prisoners,  and  in 
mental  acuteness  he 
lags  a  little  behind. 
Men  become  by  do- 
ing, and  the  man 
who  holds  a  gun  as 
a  life-work,  never 
becomes  anything, 
not  even  a  necessary 
part  of  a  machine. 
C  There  is  no  mon- 
ey in  the  present 
plan  of  prison  industry  for  anybody,  for  the 
output  is  of  a  sort  that  is  bought  only  by 
very  poor  people.  This  man  in  the  prison  is 
in  competition  with  women  and  children 
who  do  the  same  work  in  factories  outside. 
He  is  a  sweat-shop  pawn,  and  is  adding  to 
the  general  misery  of  mankind;  and  if  he  is 
intelligent,  he  knows  it.  No  skill  is  acquired; 
there  is  no  mental  growth;  and  the  man's 
chances  of  getting  work  when  his  time  ex- 
pires, are  very  faint.  Thousands  of  men,  un- 
handicapped  by  a  prison  record,  outof  work, 
can  do  his  task  as  well  as  he.  The  only 
change  in  the  man  is  that  when  he  entered 
prison  he  represented  crime,  and  now  he 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  17 


mirrors  nullity—weakness.  Sin  is  misdirect- 
ed energy,  and  the  capacity  for  wrong  means 
also  the  capacity  for  good;  but  weakness  is 
the  capacity  for  nothing. 
To  such  a  degree  of  cheapness  have  prison- 
made  goods  been  carried  that  the  name 
"prison-made"  has  become  a  stigma  and  a 
synonym  for  the  tawdry.  The  sales  agents 
in  certain  instances 
taking  advantage  of 
the  cheap  produc- 
tion, have  under- 
sold "free  labor," 
and  the  result  has 
been  a  fine  hulla- 
baloo from  the 
Trades  Unions, 
with  reasons  more 
or  less  cogent  and 
conclusive. 
Of  prisoners  in 
state  penitentiaries, 
not  over  five  per 
cent  are  any  more 
vicious  in  their  in- 
stincts than  the  men 
outside.  We  find,  on 
acquaintance,  that 
the  man  in  a  striped 
suit  is  very  much  a 
man  like  ourselves. 
He  has  done  some- 
thing, while  we  have  only  thought  it.  He 
often  lacks  caution  and  he  lacks  will.  Yet 
through  the  right  influence  at  the  right  mo- 
ment— his  will  supplemented  by  another — 
he  might  be  outside;  and  a  temptation  com- 
ing to  us  when  impulse  was  strong,  we  might 
now  be  in  his  place. 

"What  kind  of  men  compose  the  House 
of  Commons?"  asked  Oliver  Goldsmith  of 
Ursa  Major. 

"Sir,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "take  the  first  fifty 
men  coming  down  Fleet  Street." 
The  prisoner  is  a  man  and  a  brother.  Our 
desire  is  to  help  him  to  help  himself,  and 
thereby  help  ourselves.  Grant  that  he  must  be 
restrained  and  a  limit  put  on  his  liberty,  yet  if 
we  can  make  restraint  largely  moral  and  a  mat- 
ter of  psychology,  the  greater  are  we.  When 
we  give  this  man  back  to  society,  we  hope  to 
give  back  a  man  that  society  needs,  not  one 
whom  society  would  shun  or  gladly  spare. 


Revenge  and  punishment  are  things  of  the 
past.  Revenge  belongs  to  the  savage,  and  the 
germ  of  punishment  lies  in  the  act.  "Ven- 
geance is  mine,  and  I  will  repay,"  saith  the 
Lord.  And  the  Lord  needs  no  help. 
This  leaves  us  free  to  teach. 
And  so  I  am  brought  up  to  the  vital  point 
of  this  paragraph:  Set  prisoners  to  work  at 
.  hand-work.  Do  not 

T  IS  a  great  thing  to  keep 
thout 


silence  without  being 
glum — to  down  your  crit- 
ics without  saying  a  word, 
and  add  to  your  friends 
by  holding  your  peace!  And  since 
language  can  never  explain  to  one 
who  does  not  already  know,  and  as 
words  are  never  a  vindication,  si- 
lence, when  ballasted  by  soul,  is 
effective  beyond  speech. 
C  Abstinence  is  not  enough,  you 
must  make  life  positive — do  some- 
thing. 

<L  Churches,  likeDepartment  Stores, 
carry  the  wares  that  are.  asked  for. 


suggest  revolt  by 
placing  the  man  on 
a  treadmill. 
We  grow  through 
expression,  and  the 
only  way  to  reform 
a  man  is  through 
the  right  exercise  of 
his  faculties;  thus 
allowing  the  man  to 
reform  himself. 
Education  should 
be  through  self-ac- 
tivity, not  through 
punishment  and  re- 
pression. 

The  Kindergarten 
Idea  has  been  par- 
tially introduced 
at  the  Illinois  State 
Reform  School  at 
Pontiac,  Illinois, 
and  the  results  have 
been  most  encouraging — a  marvel,  often, 
even  to  the  teachers.  And  if  boys  from  twelve 
to  eighteen  can  be  managed  by  kindness,  full 
grown  men  can  also.  In  fact,  the  youth  of, 
say,  sixteen,  is  the  hardest  proposition  that 
confronts  either  the  pedagog  or  penologist. 
The  lad  who  is  neither  a  man  nor  a  boy,  and 
considers  himself  immortal,  is  much  more 
dangerous  than  a  criminal  of  mature  years. 
Even  in  many  "good"  boys,  just  turned 
into  adolescence,  revolution  is  rife,  and  dis- 
cretion and  caution  are  at  low  ebb. 
I  am  positive  that  I  can  take,  just  as  they 
come,  twenty-five  Sing  Sing  men,  and  by 
the  Kindergarten  Method  manage  them,  in  a 
room  alone,  day  after  day,  without  arms  or 
a  guard,  in  a  perfectly  orderly  &  decent  man- 
ner. I  can  teach  them  to  express  themselves 
in  useful  work,  and  can  gradually  develop 
among  the  most  of  them  a  degree  of  deftness 
and  skill  that  will  make  them  self-supporting. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  18 


41More  than  this,  I  can  secure,  in  a  week,  a 
hundred  men  and  women  who  can  teach  just 
as  well  as  I  can.  And  I  am  not  sure  but  that 
men  prisoners  can  be  taught  best  by  women, 
and  women  prisoners  taught  best  by  men. 
*LThe  Kindergarten  Method  should  be  used 
in  its  entirety— that  is,  there  should  be  music, 
singing,  marches  and  calisthenics  to  relieve 
nerve-tension.  Also 
there  should  be  oral 
expression  under 
proper  regulations, 
instead  of  the  grim, 
deathly  silence  of 
the  present  prison. 
CMen  can  be  led 
away  from  the  bad 
by  making  life  affir- 
mative ;  &  so  these 
men  should  be  set 
to  making  things 
with  their  hands, 
and  gradually  pro- 
moted from  the  sim- 
ple work  to  the  more 
complex. 

For  grown  men 
Sloyd  would  be  the 
simplest  form  of 
work,  &  this  would 
lead  to  carpentry, 
wood-carving,,  cab- 
inet work,  ornamental  blacksmithing  and 
weaving.  The  simple  weaving  of  "home- 
spun" and  bed  covers  would  lead  some 
straight  to  tapestries,  just  as  wood-carving, 
modeling  and  drawing  would  lead  the  elect 
few  to  art. 

Such  industry  would  surely  work  a  re- 
formation in  great  numbers,  and  a  just  and 
proper  pride  would  gradually  grow  up  where 
before  there  was  only  a  patibulary  acquies- 
cence that  masked  a  dangerous  crater. 
As  for  the  hand-made  fabric,  there  can 
never  be  a  glut  in  the  market.  It  would  have 
to  sell  higher  than  the  machine-made  article, 
and  therefore  the  Trades  Unions  would  be 
appeased.  Competition  would  be  overcome 
by  making  things  better,  not  cheaper.  If  the 
thing  is  unique  and  beautiful,  no  stigma  of 
"prison-made"  would  be  attached.  Prison- 
made  now  stands  for  sweat-shop  and  shoddy, 
and  these  things  we  do  not  want.  Time  is  the 


one  thing  that  the  prisoner  is  long  on.  Why 
this  hot  haste  to  get  the  thing  done  by  Satur- 
day night!  Let  the  man  be  taught  to  do  his 
task  well.  Not  how  cheap,  but  how  good, 
should  be  the  motto. 

But  best  of  all,  hand-work  In  prison,  in- 
stead of  machine  methods,  would  give  us 
back  men  for  criminals.  The  reason  there  is 
no  place  now  for 
the  man  who  has 
"done  time,"  is  be- 
cause we  believe  he 
is  incompetent.  He 
cannot  do  anything. 
He  is  helpless  as  a 
craw-fish  that  has 
just  sloughed  its 
shell.  We  have  all 
the  incompetents 
now  that  we  can 
manage,  and  so  we 
turn  the  jail  bird 
away  with  a  letter 
of  recommendation 
or  a  certificate  of 
character,  and  we 
ease  conscience  by 
rubbing  into  him  a 
little  trite  advice 
about  bracing  up  & 
living  an  honest  life. 
Mr.  Booker  Wash- 
ington has  well  said,  "The  color  line  disap- 
pears when  a  negro  has  something  which 
other  folks  want."  It  is  the  same  with  the 
ex-prisoner:  if  the  man  can  do  something 
really  worth  while,  all  prejudices  are  waived. 
Very,  very  few  skilled  artisans  are  ever  sent 
to  prison;  and  when  in  prison  a  man  does 
acquire  skill  in  a  useful  line,  it  is  always  by 
accident,  and  in  spite  of  the  keepers. 
I  know  of  one  case  at  Auburn  where  a 
prisoner  begged  the  privilege  of  making  a 
chair  of  his  own  design  —  simply  the  craving 
for  self-expression.  Permission  was  granted, 
and  the  man  produced  a  very  creditable 
piece  of  work.  In  fact,  the  skill  he  possessed 
was  a  surprise  both  to  himself  and  those  in 
authority.  Other  prisoners  saw  what  this 
man  had  done  and  prayed  for  a  like  privi- 
lege. This  was  denied,  because  there  was  no 
precedent  or  authority  for  such  work.  But 
the  powers  wanted  the  things  that  this  skill- 


O  ONE  knows  a  thing  for 
sure  until  he  has  told  it  to 
someone  else.  We  deepen 
impressions  by  recount- 
ing them,  &  to  habitually 
suppress  and  repress  the  child  when 
he  wants  to  tell  of  the  curious  and 
wonderful  things  he  has  seen,  is  to 
display  a  2x4  acumen. 
C  Lovers  of  truth  must  thank  exile 
for  some  of  our  richest  and  ripest 
literature.  Exile  is  not  all  exile.  Im- 
agination cannot  be  imprisoned. 
Amid  the  winding  bastions  of  the 
brain  thought  roams  free  and  un- 
trammeled  ^> 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  19 


ful  man  could  make,  and  so  he  was  given  a 
separate  room  where,  without  guard  or  re- 
straint, he  follows  his  inclinations  and  works 
up  his  ideas  into  beautiful  and  useful  things. 
Knowledge  of  the  health,  mental  growth 
and  skill  that  have  come  to  this  prisoner, 
accidentally  caught  the  attention  of  a  manu- 
facturer. He  wanted  just  such  a  man;  and 
this  manufacturer  is 
now  putting  forth 
an  effort  to  secure 
a  pardon  for  this 
man.  And  although 
the  prisoner  is  un- 
der life  sentence  for 
murder,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  par- 
don will  be  secur- 
ed; for  the  primal 
reason  for  keeping 
a  man  locked  up,  is 
because  he  is  not 
wanted  outside. 
Convince  a  Board 
of  Pardons  that  the 
man  can  &  will  do  a 
valuable  service  for 
society,  and  pris- 
on doors  fly  open. 
CLIdleness  is  the 
only  sin.  A  black- 
smith singing  at  his 
forge,  sparks  a-fly- 
ing,  anvil  ringing, 
the  man  materializ- 
ing an  idea — what 
is  finer!  I  saw  such 
a  sight  the  other 
evening  through  a  window.  It  gave  me  a 
thrill,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "The  only  saint 
is  the  man  who  has  found  his  work!" 

I1HE  DISCIPLE.  A  woman  of  rare  in- 
II  tellectual  worth  once  told  me  that  the 
IH  most  miserable  month  of  her  life  was 
the  first  four  weeks  of  her  marriage. 
"Proceed!"  I  said,  and  settled  myself  back 
in  the  William  Morris  chair. 
And  then  she  told  me  this:  "I  have  a  fair 
intellect  and  a  passable  education.  I  was  a 
school  teacher — had  saved  a  little  money 
and  been  to  Europe.  I  painted  a  little  in 
water  colors,  gave  private  lessons  in  1  expres- 


sion '  and  physical  culture,  &  was  thoroughly 
interested  in  the  history  of  art.  Of  course  an 
art  collection  for  one  of  my  limited  means 
was  quite  out  of  the  question,  so  I  contented 
myself  with  an  investment  of  a  hundred  dol- 
lars in  photographs  of  masterpieces. 
"Art  in  Des  Moines,  in  1890,  was  rather  a 
new  thing,  outside  of  Oliver  Perkins'  bach- 
elor apartments;  so 

BELIEVE  that  no  one 
can  harm  us  but  ourselves; 
that  sin  is  misdirected  en- 
ergy; that  there  is  no  devil 
but  fear;  and  that  the  Uni- 
anned  for  good.  On  every 


verse  is  p 

side  we  find  beauty  and  excellence 
held  in  the  balance  of  things.  We 
know  that  work  is  a  blessing,  that 
winter  is  as  necessary  as  summer, 
that  night  is  as  useful  as  day,  that 
death  is  a  manifestation  of  Life,  and 
just  as  good.  I  believe  in  the  Now 
and  Here.  I  believe  in  You,  and  I 
believe  in  a  Power  that  is  in  Our- 
selves that  makes  for  Righteousness. 
C  Secure  freedom  by  holding  fast  to 
the  truth  that  there  is  no  devil  but 
fear  and  that  the  Reality  (God)  is 
on  your 


I  found  myself  quite 
famous,  for  when  I 
exhibited  my  pho- 
tographs at  the  High 
School,  and  gave  a 
little  general  talk  on 
Art,  there  were  a 
number  of  visitors 
present,  friends  & 
kinsmen  of  my 
scholars. 

"Several  said  my 
little  lecture  was 
great,  and  a  young 
man  present  de- 
manded the  privi- 
lege of  procuring  a 
set  of  lantern  slides 
of  my  pictures  so  I 
could  give  my  lec- 
ture in  the  Assem- 
bly Room.  I  tried 
to  smile  the  matter 
off,  but  did  n't 
succeed. 

"The  young  man 
belonged  to  one  of 
the  first  families  of 
the  place,  and  I  was 
proud  of  his  attentions,  for  you  know  plain 
school  ma'ams  are  a  little  outside  of  the 
social  pale,  and  are  only  allowed  beyond 
their  Ghetto  by  grace. 
"The  public  lecture  went  well,  for  I  was 
full  of  animation,  and  my  audience  was  gra- 
cious and  sympathetic.  Then  I  gave  the 
same  thing  at  the  little  towns  around,  the 
young  man  acting  as  my  impresario.  There 
was  even  arranged  a  class  of  Grown-ups  in 
Literature  and  another  in  Art,  and  I  of 
course  was  the  leader.  I  doubtless  acquired 
considerable  skill  as  a  public  speaker,  and 
this  being  before  the  day  of  woman's  clubs, 
I  was  looked  upon  with  local  wonder  and 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  20 


pointed  out  to  visitors.  Well,  suffice  to  say  that 
my  impresario  proposed  to  me,  proposed 
explosively  one  evening  on  the  way  home 
from  one  of  my  classes.  I  had  always  said, 
that  a  man  who  pops  the  question  is  a  very 
small  and  insignificant  creature;  but  now  it 
seemed  different. 

"I  was  flattered— any  woman  is  flattered 
to  have  any  man  lay 


K3SBBB& 


his  all  at  her  feet. 
Then  I  was  just 
fresh  from  my  lec- 
ture, and  you  know 
the  intoxication  of 
public  speaking!  I 
placed  my  head  on 
his  shoulder  in  the 
proper  way.  He 
kissed  at  me,  smack- 
ed too  soon,  smash- 
ed my  hat,  and 
rubbed  his  whis- 
kers in  my  eye.  I 
had  always  said  that 
a  man  who  kisses  a 
woman  explosively, 
is  worse  than  one 
who  pops  a  pre- 
mature proposal. 
C  "In  five  weeks  I 
married  that  man. 
He  was  three  years 
my  junior,  the  son 
of  a  wholesale  gro- 
cer, and  so  had  a 
family  name;  and 
his  wealth  was  no 
objection.  I  was 
twenty-nine  and  growing  yellow.  There  was 
no  promotion  ahead  for  me  in  my  profes- 
sion—  school  teachers  are  just  worn  out  and 
buried.  I  was  tired,  over-worked  and  hun- 
gry for  love,  as  all  good  women  are.  I  had  a 
chance,  and  I  took  it. 

"My  husband  idolized  me.  He  fed  on  my 
words,  followed  me  with  his  eyes,  and  feast- 
ed on  my  every  action.  He  thought  that  my 
little  water  color  daubs  were  gems,  consid- 
ered my  opinion  on  literature  as  final,  and 
quoted  my  words  on  art  to  those  who  really 
knew  better.  In  short,  my  husband  did  not 
know  me  at  all,  and  never  could.  Yet  we 
were  tied  for  life.  He  never  guessed  my  lim- 


itations. To  say  that  he  was  my  Disciple  I 
think  covers  the  matter,  if  you  add  to  this  a 
goodly  dash  of  animality. 

And  all  the  time  I  knew  that  there  was 
going  to  be  a  fearful  awakening.  My  husband 
knew  nothing  of  art  or  literature — knew  less 
than  I,  and  all  I  knew  was  names,  dates  and 
labels.  I  was  a  mere  dabster,  but  he  was  n't 
big  enough  to  de- 

HE  desire  for  the  expres- 
of  sentiments  and 


sion  or  sentiments 
emotions  is  very  much 
akin  to  sex.  Each  is  a 
reaching  out  for  perpetua- 
tion, a  bid  for  immortality,  a  protest 
against  extinction.  The  gratification 
of  an  artistic  success  is  the  finest 
intoxication  that  comes  to  a  mortal. 
But  like  all  pleasures  it  must  be 
shared  to  be  complete.  "When  I 
have  sung  well,"  said  Patti,  "and 
the  curtain  is  rung  down,  I  want 
Someone  to  just  take  me  in  his 
arms  and  tell  me  it  was  good — I 
don't  care  so  much  for  the  applause 
of  the  audience." 

C  God  does  n't  need  us  so  much  as 
his  children  do;  so  let  us  help  them, 
and  let  God  shift  for  Himself 


tectit,  nor  allow  me 
to  confess  to  him." 
"I  '11  have  to  go 
pretty  soon,"  I  said, 
and  shifted  my  po- 
sition in  the  Morris 
chair.  "I  see  you 
got  tired  of  your 
husband." 
"I  did  n't  say  that," 
she  retorted.  "But 
a  woman  wants  to 
serve  a  man,  not  be 
crawled  to.  I  could 
forgive  a  beating, 
but  my  husband 
used  to  cackle  ap- 
plause at  my  most 
common-place  re- 
marks, as  if  they 
were  scintillations. 
C  "Judge  Water- 
man of  Chicago  di- 
vorced us  on  our 
first  anniversary. 
Mary  Baker  Eddy 
had  almost  a  paral- 
lel experience,  you 


remember,  and  if 
she  had  not  secured  marital  freedom  just  as  I 
did,  in  the  courts,  she  would  never  have 
reached  the  sublime  heights  of  Christian 
Science." 

"Keep  to  the  theme  and  cut  out  C.  S.  for 
the  present — how  about  the  alimony?"  I 
ventured. 

"It  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  a  month,  and 
comes  quite  convenient,"  she  said. 
"Thestoryisinteresting,butcommon-place," 
I  answered.  "Only  one  flash  of  philosophy 
is  in  it  all  and  that  is  what  you  suggested 

about  the  Disciple.  It  is  like  this"  

"I  thought  you  had  to  go?"  she  said. 
"That  depends  upon  who  is  doing  the 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  21 


111 


talking,"  said  I,  and  rebuked  her  by  a  look, 
and  continued,  thus: 

A  Disciple  is  a  man  who  does  not  under- 
stand. He  thinks  that  he  does,  but  he  does  n't. 
And  the  reason  of  his  obtuseness  lies  in  the 
fact  that  he  is  willing  to  be  a  Disciple,  and 
has  n't  the  phosphorous  to  be  an  indepen- 
dent Ego,  as  every  man  should.  The  true 
token  of  the  Disci-  ___________ 

pie  is  that  he  is  will-  i«      i|mj|ABBITS  are  very  much 

ing  to  let  the  other 
man  do  all  the  think- 
ing. He  is  one  who 
accepts  the  opinions 
of  another  without 
digesting  them.  He 
has  such  faith  in  his 
master  that  he  ac- 
cepts every  word, 
and  does  not  stop 
to  analyze,  weigh, 
sift  or  decide. 
A  Disciple  is  an  in- 
dividual who  is  hot- 
ly intent  on  hitching 
his  ice-cart  to  a  Star. 
C  That  Man  who 
had  Twelve  Disci- 
ples had  twelve  too 
many;  no  wonder 
that  He  used  to  send 
them  away;  no  won- 
der is  it  that  He 
went  alone  up  into 
the  mountain.  The 
Disciples  were  be- 
coming a  nuisance 
with  their  childish 


would  never  either  idolize  nor  hate.  C.  Any- 
one who  idolizes  you  is  going  to  hate  you 
when  he  discovers  that  you  are  fallible.  He 
never  forgives.  He  has  deceived  himself  and 
he  blames  you  for  it. 

"I  hate  him!"  said  Dr.  Johnson  of  a  cer- 
tain man. 

"Why,  how  can  you  say  that,  when  you  do  not 
even  know  him?" 


like  folks  in  that  they  are 
never  really  so  happy  as 
when  they  are  mis'ble.  If 
Rabbits  have  n't  any  real 
sure-enough  troubles,  they  always 
chew  the  cud  and  conjure  forth  a  few. 
CMen  who  are  well  traduced  and 
hotly  denounced  are  usually  pretty 
good  quality.  No  better  encomium 
is  needed  than  the  detraction  of 
some  people.  And  men  who  are  well 
hated  also  have  friends  who  love 
them  well — thus  does  the  law  of 
compensation  ever  live. 
C  It  is  a  great  and  beautiful  thing  to 
be  patient  if  wrongfully  accused;  to 
be  so  strongly  girded  'round  with 
right  that  you  can  meet  slander  by 
silence,  and  calumny  with  a  smile. 


questions  and  quibbles  and  petty  jealousies 
about  preferences.  He  saw  that  they  were 
going  to  make  Him  trouble.  None  of  them 
rendered  Him  any  service  of  which  we 
know.  A  Disciple  is  a  traducer  in  the  germ. 
One  of  the  Twelve  betrayed  the  Man,  an- 
other denied  Him,  a  third  doubted  Him,  and 
what  the  others  did,  nobody  knows.  Personal 
relationship  is  sure  to  transform  a  Disciple 
into  an  enemy. 

Your  enemy  is  a  man  who  does  not  compre- 
hend you,  and  your  Disciple  is  the  same; 
they  mark  different  stages  of  the  chrysalis, 
that 's  all. 

If  men  could  only  know  each  other,  they 


asked  Goldsmith. 
«L"Sir,"  Ursa  Ma- 
jor answered,  "that 
is  the  trouble,  if  I 
only  knew  the  man 
I  would  doubtless 
respect  him." 
To  know  all  is  to 
forgive  all. 
Your  comrade  and 
friend!  Well,  that  is 
something  different. 
Your  friend  knows 
your  limitations,  re- 
spects your  foibles, 
realizes  your  weak 
points.  He  sums  up 
your  character;  he 
casts  a  balance  and 
finds  so  much  good 
to  your  credit;  then 
he  gives  to  you  his 
faith  and  his  loyalty. 
CBut  your  Disci- 
ple neither  knows 
your  best  nor  worst. 
He  just  invests  you 
with  a  halo  and  be- 
stows on  you  vir- 
tues you  do  not  possess.  You  never  dare  tell 
a  Disciple  the  truth— nothing  but  a  miracle 
satisfies  him.  A  Disciple,  in  short,  is  an  in- 
different person  who  has  been  indiscreetly 
allowed  to  come  close  enough  to  strike  a 
Good  Man. 

Your  mental  mate  inspires  you  to  nobler 
endeavor;  he  comprehends  you  at  your 
best,  appreciates  your  flights,  detects  your 
lapses,  deprecates  your  aberrations,  and  his 
presence  constantly  tends  to  conserve  sanity 
and  a  proper  balance.  On  the  other  hand 
the  Disciple  tempts  in  the  direction  of  extra- 
vagance and  hypocrisy.  He  is  easily  imposed 
upon,  and  as  he  demands  the  impossible, 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  22 


there  is  a  strong  temptation  to  give  it  to  him. 
C.A11  good  men  and  women  crave  comrade- 
ship; but  to  have  any  one  accept  your  word 
as  holy  writ,  is  a  dire  calamity.  We  want 
love  and  sympathy,  and  we  want  the  right  of 
being  forgiven.  We  do  not  want  to  be  idol- 
ized, we  want  to  be  pardoned.  Flee  the  Dis- 
ciple on  your  life!  Limit  him  to  correspond- 
ence and  communi- 


The  Law  of  Wages  is  as  sure  and  exact  in 
its  workings  as  the  Law  of  the  Standard  of 
Life.  You  can  go  to  the  very  top,  and  take 
Edison  for  instance,  who  sets  a  vast  army  at 
work  — and  wins  not  only  deathless  fame, 
but  a  fortune,  great  beyond  the  dreams  of 
avarice.  And  going  down  the  scale  you  can 
find  men  who  will  not  work  of  themselves, 
and  no  one  is  able 


RT  is  the  expression  of 
man's  joy  in  his  work. 
You  must  let  the  man 
work  with  hand  and  brain, 
and  then  out  of  the  joy  of 
this  marriage,  beauty  will  be  born. 
And  this  beauty  mirrors  the  best 
in  the  soul  of  man  —  it  shows  the 
spirit  of  God  that  runs  through  him. 
Hit  is  foolish  to  say  sharp,  hasty 
things,  but  'tis  a  deal  more  foolish 
to  write  'em.  When  a  man  sends 
you  an  impudent  letter  sit  right 
down  and  give  it  back  to  him  with 
interest  ten  times  compounded — 
and  then  throw  both  letters  into  the 
waste  basket. 

CA  retentive  memory  is  a  great  thing, 
but  the  ability  to  forget  is  the  true 
token  of  greatness  a&&> 


cation  by  telephone. 
If  forced  to  it,  do  as 
the  Sibyl  of  Con- 
cord does,  — show 
yourself  for  about 
two  minutes,  once  a 
year  in  the  gloam- 
ing, from  a  high  bal- 
cony,whiletheNon- 
Cogibund  stand  on 
the  lawn,  ten  thous- 
and strong,  &  tramp 
on  the  shrubbery. 

,pfS|HE  PRICE 

mm  ofincom- 

mM  PETENCE. 
All  employees  pay 
more  or  less  for  su- 
perintendence and 
inspection.  That  is 
to  say,  a  dollar  a  day 
man  would  receive 
two  dollars  a  day 
were  it  not  for  the 
fact  that  some  one 
has  to  think  for  him, 
look  after  him,  and 
supply  the  will  that 
holds  him  to  his  task.  The  result  is  that  he 
contributes  toward  the  support  of  those  who 
superintend  him.  Make  no  mistake  about 
this:  incompetence  and  disinclination  require 
supervision,  and  they  pay  for  it,  and  no  one 
else  does. 

The  less  you  require  looking  after,  the  more 
able  you  are  to  stand  alone  and  complete 
your  tasks,  the  greater  your  reward.  Then 
if  you  can  not  only  do  your  own  work,  but 
direct  intelligently  and  effectively  the  efforts 
of  others,  your  reward  is  in  exact  ratio,  and 
the  more  people  you  direct,  and  the  higher 
the  intelligence  you  can  rightly  lend,  the 
more  valuable  is  your  life. 


to  make  them  work, 
and  so  their  lives 
are  worth  nothing, 
and  they  are  a  tax 
and  burden  on  the 
communityinwhich 
they  live.  Do  your 
work  so  well  it  will 
require  no  supervi- 
sion; and  by  doing 
your  own  thinking 
you  will  save  the  ex- 
tra expense  of  hir- 
ing some  person  to 
think  for  you. 

mm GREAT  IN- 

wMm  vention. 

Within  twen- 
ty years  a  silent  evo- 
lution has  been  go- 
ing on  in  the  meth- 
od of  teaching  chil- 
dren. The  changes 
have  been  so  great 
that  they  have  truly 
amounted  to  a  revo- 
lution. 

This  change  in  man- 
ner and  method  has  sprung  principally  from 
the  influence  of  one  man. 
That  man  is  Friedrich  Froebel. 
Froebel  was  the  inventor  and  the  originator 
of  the  Kindergarten. 

The  Kindergarten  is  the  greatest,  most  im- 
portant, most  useful  innovation  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  save  none. 
No  rapid  transit  scheme  of  moving  men  from 
this  point  to  that  with  lightning-like  rapidity 
(with  nothing  special  to  do  when  they  get 
there);  no  invention  of  calling  up  folks  five 
hundred  miles  away  and  talking  to  them 
(with  nothing  really  worth  while  to  commu- 
nicate), can  compare  in  value  with  that  which 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  23 


gives  love  for  bru- 
tality, trust  for  fear, 
hope  for  despair, — 
the  natural  for  the 
artificial. 

The  Kindergarten! 
The  Child-Garten 
—  a  place  in  which 
the  little  souls  fresh 
from  God  bloom  & 
blossom. 

Youcannotmakethe 
plant  blossom.  You 
can,  however,  place 
it  in  the  sunshine 
and  supply  it  ali- 
ment and  dew;  but 
nature  does  the  rest. 
C  So  it  is  with  teach- 
ing— all  we  can  do  is 
to  comply  with  the 
conditions  of  growth 
in  the  child,  &  God 
does  the  rest. 
We  are  strong  only 
as  we  ally  ourselves 
with  Nature:  we  can 
make  head  only  by 
laying  hold  on  the 
forces  of  the  Uni- 
verse. 

Man  is  part  of  Na- 
ture— just  as  much 
as  are  the  tree  and 
bird.  In  the  main, 
every  animal  &  ev- 
ery organism  does 
the  thing  that  is  best 
for  it  to  do.  Froebel 
thought  that  human 
nature  in  all  its  ele- 
ments is  as  free  from 
falsity  and  error  as 
Nature  is  under  any 
other  aspect.  The 
idea  that  man  is  con- 
stantly prone  to  do 
that  which  is  hurt- 
ful to  himself,  was 
revolting  to  thiswise 
and  gentle  man. 
The  Kindergarten 
System  is  simply  the 


O  obtain  a  place,  a  free 
field,  a  harmonious  expan- 
sion for  your  powers — this 
is  life.  To  be  tied  down, 
pinned  to  a  task  that  is 
repugnant,  and  have  the  shrill  voice 
of  Necessity  whistling  eternally  in 
your  ears,  "Do  this  or  starve,"  is  to 
starve — for  it  starves  the  heart,  the 
soul  —  and  all  the  higher  aspirations 
of  your  being  wither  away  and  die. 
C  Until  we  have  a  school  of  litera- 
ture that  will  combine  all  schools 
and  give  the  liberty  to  a  full  expres- 
sion of  every  mood,  there  will  be  a 
warfare  between  the  "sects"  that 
give  free  rein  to  imagination  and  the 
sect  that,  having  no  imagination, 
merely  describes.  When  one  school 
driven  by  the  jibes  and  jeers  of  the 
other  tilts  up  t'  other  side,  a  heavy 
man  will  start  the  teeter  back,  and 
he  is  the  man  we  crown.  And  let  us 
ever  crown  the  heavy  man  when  we 
find  him. 

CYes,  a  persecution  has  its  com- 
pensation. In  its  state  of  persecu- 
tion a  religion  is  pure,  if  ever;  its 
decline  begins  when  its  prosperity 
commences.  Prosperous  men  are 
never  wise  and  seldom  good.  Woe 
unto  you  when  all  men  shall  speak 
well  of  you. 

C  Art  is  beauty,  and  beauty  is  a  gra- 
tification, a  peace  and  a  solace  to 
every  normal  man  and  woman. 
C  A  bird  in  the  bush  is  worth  two 
on  a  woman's  hat 


utilization  of  Play 
as  the  prime  factor 
in  education.  Froe- 
bel made  the  discov- 
ery that  Play  was 
God's  plan  of  edu- 
cating the  young,  so 
he  adopted  it. 
Long  before  Froe- 
bel's  day  every  bo- 
dy seemed  to  think 
that  play  was  a  big 
waste  of  time  in  the 
children,  and  a  sin 
in  grown-ups.  That 
which  was  pleasant 
was  bad.  Some  peo- 
ple still  hold  to  this 
idea,  but  such  folks, 
I  am  glad  to  know, 
are  growing  a  trifle 
lonesome. 
In  1850,  the  year  be- 
fore Froebel  died, 
he  said,  "It  will  take 
the  world  four  hun- 
dred years  to  recog- 
nize the  truth  of  my 
theories."  Only  fif- 
ty years  have  gone 
(three  hundred  and 
fifty  years  are  yet 
to  our  credit),  and 
already  we  find  the 
Kindergarten  Idea 
coloring  the  entire 
scheme  of  pedago- 
gics. Like  a  single 
drop  of  aniline  in  a 
barrel  of  water,  its 
influence  is  shown 
in  every  part. 
Napoleon's  charac- 
ter stands  out  sharp 
and  clear,  etched 
against  the  sky.  He 
killed  a  million  men, 
made  homeless  and 
houseless  five  mil- 
lion women  &  chil- 
dren, and  left  a  trail 
of  death  and  deso- 
lation behind  him. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


CWe  may  admire 
the  power  of  the 
man,  but  his  life 
does  not  influence 
us:  we  do  not  imi- 
tate him,  &  between 
him  and  us  there  is 
nothing  in  common. 
He  stands  away  out 
yonder  with  folded 
arms,  upon  a  barren 
rock,  at  St.  Helena, 
lookingoutuponthe 
sad  and  solemn  sea; 
and  we  are  here. 
CTwo  men  of  mod- 
ern times  have  influ- 
enced the  inner  life 
of  the  race  to  a  pro- 
found extent.  Yet 
they  are  not  widely 
known, norare  their 
names  household 
words.  They  have 
mingled  their  lives 
with  ours,  and  the 
river  of  their  exist- 
ence is  lost  in  the 
ocean  of  our  being. 
C  There  is  not  a  sin- 
gle home  —  among 
the  better  class  of 
homes — in  Europe 
or  America  but  that 
shows  the  influence 
of  William  Morris. 
The  simplicity,  gen- 
uineness, truthful- 
ness, and  quiet  good 
taste  of  Morris  have 
influenced  the  en- 
tire housekeeping 
world. 

Not  a  school-room 
in  the  world  of  civ- 
ilization that  does 
not  show  the  influ- 
ence of  Friedrich 
Froebel.  The  Kin- 
dergarten Idea  has 
also  crept  into  the 
homes  and  is  influ- 
encing and  educat- 


HE  idea  of  "divinity"  is 
strong  in  the  mind  of  ev- 
ery great  man.  He  recog- 
nizes his  sonship,  and 
claims  his  divine  parent- 
age. The  man  of  masterful  mind  is 
perforce  an  Egoist.  When  he  speaks 
he  says,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  If 
he  did  not  believe  in  himself,  how 
could  he  ever  make  others  believe  in 
him?  Small  men  are  apologetic  and 
give  excuses  for  being  on  earth,  and 
reasons  for  staying  here  so  long,  and 
run  and  peep  about  to  find  them- 
selves dishonorable  graves.  Not  so 
the  great  souls  —  the  fact  that  they 
are  here  is  proof  that  God  sent 
them.  Their  actions  are  regal,  their 
language  oracular,  their  manner  af- 
firmative. 

CThis  life  is  full  of  gladness,  and 
mayhap  it  is  the  gateway  to  another; 
and  to  live  well  here,  is  surely  the 
best  preparation  for  a  life  to  come. 
God  is  good  and  we  are  not  afraid. 
<LMan  will  some  day  find  that  the 
exercise  of  the  spiritual  or  emotional 
nature  through  music,  or  the  con- 
templation of  beauty,  is  a  necessity 
as  much  as  food  and  drink. 

We  are  men  and  women,  and  our 
hopes  and  aims  and  final  destiny  are 
at  last  one — where  one  enjoys,  all 
enjoy;  where  one  suffers,  all  suffer. 
C.  Life  is  a  movement  outward,  an 
unfolding,  a  development. 
<L  There  is  a  time  to  teach  things  as 
well  as  a  way  ^^^^^>^^^s^^^ 


Page  24 

ingthe  parents,  too. 
CThe  use  of  pict- 
ures as  a  means  of 
excitingself-activity 
is  seen  everywhere; 
children  are  being 
taught  to  observe 
nature,  and  they  are 
encouraged  to  bring 
totheschoolthecur- 
ious  things  they  find 
in  woods  or  fields — 
birds'  nests,  fungi, 
flowers — and  these 
things  are  discussed 
with  animation  in 
open  court. 
Therearelessbooks 
and  greater  inter- 
change of  thought 
and  feeling— more 
expression  and  less 
introspection. 
Disgrace  thro'  the 
dunce-cap;  "stand- 
ing on  the  floor"; 
humiliation  through 
corporal  punish- 
ment, when  the  en- 
tire schoolroom  quit 
study  to  look  on; 
use  of  the  ruler  on 
the  open  hand  on 
account  of  lessons 
not  memorized— all 
these  things  are  be- 
coming beautifully 
less.  Naggings,  pro- 
hibitions, chidings, 
&  stern  threats  now 
have  no  legitimate 
place  in  any  school. 
CLBut  the  things  I 
have  just  mention- 
ed, and  which  ev- 
ery man  of,  say, 
forty  years,  so  well 
remembers,  are  as 
nothing  compared 
to  the  inquisitorial 
horrors  that  child- 
hood of  a  hundred 
years,  or  even  fifty 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  25 


years  ago,  had  to  endure.  Thomas  Carlyle 
once  wrote:  "Most people  seem  to  think  that 
when  Jesus  said,  'Suffer- little  children  to 
come  unto  Me  and  forbid  them  not,'  He  held 
a  rod  behind  Him  and  was  only  trying  to 
coax  the  youngsters  within  easy  reach." 
C  It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  catalog  the 
villainies  of  the  past,  done  in  the  name  of 
education;  but  the 


fingers.  C Woe  unto  you,  lawyers!  for  ye 
have  taken  away  the  key  of  knowledge:  ye 
entered  not  in  yourselves,  and  them  that 
were  entering  in  ye  hindered." — St.  Luke, 
IX  Chapter,  verses  46  and  52. 
In  mousing  over  Mary  Cowden  Clarke's 
Concordance  of  Shakespeare,  I  find  that  the 
man  who  so  successfully  ran  the  Globe 
tttt-  ,        Theatre  had  small 

IVb  so  to  get  the  approba- 
tion of  your  Other  Self, 
and  success  is  yours.  But 
pray  that  success  may  not 
come  any  faster  than  you 
are  able  to  endure  it. 
€L  Everybody  should  make  a  will, 
and  write  it  himself,  even  if  he  has 
nothing  to  give  but  a  silver  watch 


and  a  kind  word 


matter  was  summed 
up  by  a  friend  of 
mine,  an  English- 
man, a  few  weeks 
ago,  when  he  said: 
"I  most  emphatical- 
ly believe  in  hell, 
for  I 've  been  there. 
When  I  was  seven 
years  old  my  par- 
ents placed  me  in  a 
boarding  school  for 
boys,  &  I  remained 
there  fiveyears.The 
fagging  and  beastly  brutality  of  the  big  boys 
toward  the  little  ones,  was  only  a  reflex  of 
the  mental  attitude  held  toward  us  all  by  the 
head  master  and  his  wife,  who  were  neither 
better  nor  worse  than  the  average  teacher  of 
the  time.  They  were  'educated'  folks,  and 
piled  up  forty  lines  of  Virgil  on  you  for 
trivial  acts  or  omissions;  and  when  you  were 
hopelessly  bankrupt  they  cancelled  the  score 
with  a  cat-o'-nine-tails  and  the  dark  room 
with  bread  and  water.  My  life  there  seared 
my  very  soul,  and  filled  my  heart  with  so 
much  hate  that  I  am  at  times  a  victim  to  it 
yet.  The  only  compensation  for  that  night- 
mare of  my  childhood  lies  in  the  fact  that  I 
saw  the  wickedness  and  atrocious  error  of  a 
system  that  sought  to  repress  and  break  the 
spirit,  instead  of  giving  it  wings." 
And  that  is  the  kind  of  education  the  Froe- 
bel  System  has  supplanted.  We  have  kind- 
ness now,  and  faith  and  love;  and  he  who 
has  the  most  sympathy,  the  greatest  patience, 
shall  be  crowned  with  honor,  and  above  all, 
he  shall  feel  the  approval  of  his  Other  Self. 
We  will  call  him  Teacher. 

||l|BOUT  LAWYERS.  "Woe  unto  you, 
WmM  lawyers !  for  ye  lade  men  with  burdens 
HHl  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  ye  your- 
selves touch  not  the  burdens  with  one  of  your 


use  for  lawyers.  He 
refers  to  attorneys 
just  eleven  times,  & 
seems  to  hold  that 
to  take  a  tainted  plea 
and  season  it  with 
gracious  speech  so 
as  to  obscure  the 
show  of  evil,  to  set 
decrees  at  naught, 
pluck  down  justice, 
trip  the  course  of 
law  and  blunt  the 
sword  that  guards 
these  things  are  the 


the  peace  and  person,- 
work  and  occupation  of  lawyers. 
To  put  it  more  briefly,  Shakespeare  regards 
a  lawyer  as  one  whose  business  it  is  to  show 
people  how  to  evade  the  law. 
The  only  lawyer  that  Shakespeare  speaks 
well  of  is  Portia.  And  then,  as  if  to  take  it 
all  back,  he  allows  this  woman-attorney  to 
deal  in  subterfuge,  evasion  and  quillets  that 
are  pure  quibble.  Shylock  is  the  peer,  in 
point  of  dignity  and  worth,  of  anybody  in 
the  court  room.  The  gang  that  got  him  in  tow, 
robbed  him  of  every  ducat  that  he  possessed, 
and  kicked  him  penniless  into  the  street. 
C  They  borrowed  money  from  him  and  then 
found  an  excuse  for  not  paying  it.  Not  only 
did  they  fail  to  return  Shylock  the  money 
they  had  borrowed,  but  they  resurrected  a 
Blue  Law  for  the  occasion,  confiscated  all 
of  his  property,  giving  half  to  the  man  who 
was  owing  him  and  half  to  the  state.  The 
original  loan  was  for  the  benefit  of  Bassanio, 
so  he  could  marry  Portia.  This  fact  one 
might  imagine  would  have  touched  the  wom- 
an's heart,  but  no — she  wanted  all  the  money 
Shylock  had.  And  how  much  of  the  final 
swag  went  to  Portia,  Shakespeare  does  not 
say — he  simply  allows  us  to  imagine. 
The  stealing  of  the  "Broadway  Franchise" 
or  the  lifting  of  the  "Missouri  Pacific"  was 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  26 


UMANITY  is  growing  in 
intellect,  in  patience,  in 
kindness, —  in  love.  And 
when  the  time  is  ripe,  the 
People  will  step  in  and 
take  peaceful  possession  of  their  own. 
C  I  desire  to  radiate  health,  calm 
courage,  cheerfulness  and  good  will. 
C,  Do  your  work  to-day  as  well  as 
you  can,  and  be  kind 


not  in  it  a  minute  with  this  deal.C  See  Irv- 
ing in  his  latest  conception  of  the  Merchant 
of  Venice  and  your  heart  will  be  wrung  with 
pity  for  this  poor  old  man  whom  roguery 
and  law  have  so  entrapped.  The  rascals  who 
offered  him  twice  his  bond  never  intended 
to  pay  him  a  single  centesimo.  They  first 
openly  insulted  him  upon  the  public  street, 
called  him  cutthroat 
dog,  spit  upon  his 
Jewish  gaberdine  & 
voided  their  rheum 
upon  his  whiskers. 
Thenhavingcajoled 
him  into  making  the 
loan,  they  abducted 
his  daughter,  rifled 
his  strong  box  and 
even  carried  with 
them  the  wedding- 
ring  which  in  his 
youth  he  had  given 
to  his  beloved  Leah, 
now  dead.  They  taunted  and  goaded  the 
poor  man  into  a  frenzy  of  hate.  Nothing  bet- 
ter reveals  the  truth  that  geese  go  in  flocks 
than  the  commonly  accepted  opinion  that 
Shylock  stands  for  greed.  Rather  is  it  Portia 
who  symbols  greed, —  Shylock  stands  for 
pride  of  race,  driven  by  insult  into  revenge. 
CThe  detestable  characters  in  the  play  are 
"Christians" — the  only  man  who  wins  our 
sympathy  is  the  Jew.  And  of  all  the  charac- 
ters in  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  the  unwom- 
anly woman-lawyer,  snapper-up  of  trifles, 
preacher  of  mercy  but  devoid  of  all  pity, 
as  she  is  of  truth, —  is  the  most  unlovable. 
C  William  wrote  from  experience— all  liter- 
ature is  a  confession.  He  was  not  a  profes- 
sional writer — he  was,  first,  a  business  man, 
like  my  friend,  Luther  Laflin  Mills  of  Chi- 
cago, sometime  Secretary  of  the  Exterior, 
but  recently  appointed  Minister  to  Altruria. 
<IMr.  Mills  not  long  ago  seated  himself  over 
the  tripod  and  threw  off  the  following  fetch- 
ing aphorism:  "The  man  who  is  his  own 
attorney  has  a  fool  for  a  client;  but  as  most 
clients  for  attorneys  are  like  the  folks  who 
cross  London  Bridge,  what  boots  it?— lum- 
ety,  dumety,  dimity  dee!" 
In  King  Lear  is  a  reference  to  something  ex- 
ceeding bad  which  "is  like  the  breath  of  an 
unfee'd  lawyer." 


In  Timon  of  Athens  is  this :  "  Crack  the  law- 
yer's voice,  that  he  may  never  more  false 
title  plead,  nor  sound  his  quillets  shrilly." 
Cln  Romeo  and  Juliet  there  is  an  allusion 
to  "  lawyers  who  straightway  dream  on  fees." 
The  grave-digger  in  Hamlet  picks  up  a  very 
crooked  skull  and  says,  "Why  may  not  that 
be  the  skull  of  a  lawyer?"  And  so  it  goes. 

References  to  the 
"law's  delay"  are 
numerous,  but  nev- 
er a  complimentary 
word  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Learned 
Profession. 
Every  lawyer  is  an 
officer  of  the  court, 
&  yet  fully  one  half 
of  all  the  lawyers  in 
the  land  are  thor- 
ough rogues.  And 
the  curious  fact  is, 
all  lawyers  admit  it. 
A  lawyer  is  a  moral  strabismic,  who  revels 
in  sharked  up  reasons.  Lawyers  are  the  jack- 
als of  commerce,  and  get  their  living  by 
preying  on  the  people. 
Lawyers  are  men  whom  we  hire  to  protect 
us  from  lawyers. 

Don't  you  know  that?  Well,  then,  your  ex- 
perience in  the  business  world  has  been  very 
slight.  If  you  have  never  had  an  obese  attor- 
ney, who  never  did  an  honest  day's  work  in 
his  life,  try  to  despoil  you  of  your  earnings, 
and  threaten  to  turn  the  genial  current  of 
your  life  awry  unless  you  would  come  down 
with  the  cash,  there  is  something  yet  for  you 
to  live  for.  The  average  attorney  has  but 
two  objects  in  life,  grand  and  petit  larceny. 
<Lln  nearly  all  the  large  cities  of  America 
there  are  lawyers  who  work  with  the  police 
and  divide  the  spoils.  Then  there  are  suc- 
cubi  lawyers  whose  sole  business  is  to  drink 
the  blood  of  corporations  and  railroad  com- 
panies. Their  grip  is  that  of  the  horse-leech 
— their  hunger  as  insatiable.  They  chase  am- 
bulances and  thrust  their  cards  into  the  hands 
of  dying  men,  or  next  of  kin.  Then  at  the 
trial  they  flash  up  witnesses  who  were  on 
the  spot — waiting  for  the  accident  to  occur. 
C  Many  lawyers  there  be  who  thus  feed  on 
calamity,  and  fatten  on  strife.  If  an  estate  is 
ever  settled  without  dividing  a  part  among 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  27 


lawyers,  there  is  a  mad  chorus  of  indignation 
from  the  attorneys  who  swear  they  have 
been  tricked  of  their  rights— undone! 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  realize  that  no  lawyer  who 
reads  these  lines  will  take  any  exception  to 
what  I  have  herein  stated;  for  he  will  at 
once  range  himself  up  on  the  side  of  the  vir- 
tuous—the side  of  the  Good  Lawyers— and 
run  over  in  his  own 
mind  all  the  Rogue 
Lawyers  who  be- 
long with  the  Goats. 
<Lln  order  to  show 
that  I  am  without 
prejudice  —  purely 
Zangwillian— in  the 
matter,  I  may  state 
that  I  am  under  ob- 
ligations to  a  pudgy 
pettifogger  who  pur- 
chased a  little  claim 
against  me  from  a 
party  that  I  did  not 
owe.  This  precious 
pair  evidently  went 
snucks  on  it,  &  the 
action  of  the  Pestif- 
erous Pudgy  Pea- 
scod  was  for  just  five 
thousand  plunks. 
The  very  fact  that 
I  have  a  reputation 
for  meeting  my  ob- 
ligations promptly, 
made  me  a  shining 
mark  for  blackmail. 
CThe  Jaggers  ac- 
cepted forty -two 
dollars  and  fifty  cents,  however,  and  signed 
satisfaction. 

This  was  very  kind  of  the  Skeezics  Tumble- 
Bug,  because  he  might  have  made  me  sit  it 
out  three  days  in  a  court  room  thick  with 
the  effluvia  of  his  kind. 
Then  there  was  that  suit  brought  against  me 
for  ten  thousand  dollars  damages  by  Rud- 
yard  Kipling.  I  compromised  with  Tommy 
Atkins'  Attorney  for  sixty-three  dollars,  "  for 
expenses,"  and  bought  the  beer.  A  few 
weeks  ago  I  received  a  letter,  postmarked 
Pretoria,  from  the  man  famous  from  an  In- 
ternational Pneumonia,  saying  the  Attorney 
had  kept  the  sixty-three  dollars,  and  in  ad- 


dition had  demanded  one  hundred  dollars 
for  securing  an  injunction  against  me,  re- 
straining me  from  issuing  Kipling's  Complete 
Works  — a  thing  I  never  contemplated  doing. 
ill  wrote  back  to  the  Absent-Minded  Beg- 
gar to  send  a  check  to  old  Adam-Zad,  the 
lawyer  that  walks  like  a  man,  without  de- 
lay, and  count  it  joy.  CPnce  I  sent  a  claim 
to  a  New  York  law- 

the  man  who 


APPY  is  tne  man 
conserves  his  God-given 
energy  until  wisdom  and 
not  passion  shall  direct  it. 
So  the  younger  in  life  he 
makes  the  resolve  to  turn  and  live, 
provided  he  is  a  man,  the  better  for 
him  and  the  better  for  the  world. 
CJEvery  spirit  makes  its  house;  but 
as  afterward  the  house  confines  its 
spirit,  you  would  better  build  well. 
CBe  patient  with  the  boys — you 
are  dealing  with  Soul-stuff.  Destiny 
waits  just  around  the  corner. 
CThe  fine  irony  of  an  entailed  no- 
bility is  so  obvious  one  marvels  to 
think  it  still  endures. 
C Violence  symbols  weakness  — 
strength  shows  itself  in  patience 
and  poise  ^^>^^^^^^^^^^^^^> 


yer  against  a  man 
who  owed  me  a  trifle 
of  twenty  dollars. 
The  lawyer  collect- 
ed the  amount,  but 
he  forgot  to  remit.  I 
then  sent  my  claim 
against  the  lawyer 
to  another  lawyer 
with  orders  to  bring 
suit.  Lawyer  Num- 
ber Two  happened 
to  be  Edward  Lau- 
terbach,  a  Good 
Lawyer  and  a  vir- 
tuous. Colonel  Lau- 
terbach  wrote  back 
that  he  had  sent  for 
Lawyer  Number 
One  and  receipted 
the  bill  without  ask- 
ing the  man  for  pay- 
ment; and  if  I  would 
likewise  balance  all 
my  accounts  against 
attorneys  and  not 
bother  trying  to  col- 
lect, it  would  aid  my 
digestion,  ward  off 
nervous  prostration,  stimulate  the  ganglionic 
cells,  and  tend  to  sweet  sleep  o'  nights. 
Brother  Lauterbach  then  added  that  his  fee 
for  the  advice  was  ten  dollars. 
I  sent  the  Ten  and  have  been  thankful  ever 
since  that  I  made  the  investment. 
And  now  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  Lauter- 
bach is  on  to  his  job;  and  I  have  extended 
his  advice,  striking  out  the  word  "attorneys" 
and  inserting  "anybody"  instead.  There  is 
no  money  in  bringing  suit,  and  still  less  in 
defending  one. 

So  this  is  to  notify  all  parties,  pestiferous, 
politic  and  pudgy,  that  if  they  have  claims, 
real,  fancied  or  pretended  against  me,  to 


CON  T  E  INT  P  I,  ATIONS 


Page  28 


write  stating  the  smallest  amount  they  will 
accept  in  full,  and  I  will  order  the  Red- 
Headed  Bursar  to  mail  check. 
Furthermore,  this  is  to  notify  all  parties  who 
are  owing  me,  that  they  need  not  pay  if  they 
don't  want  to.  I  am  too  busy  doing  good  to 
humanity  (and  myself)  to  either  defend  claims 
or  enforce  them.  Beside  that,  I 'm  mangy 
with  money — so  It 's 


no  difference  either 
way. 

My  Lords:  I  have 
finished.  Or  in  the 
words  of  my  friend, 
Luther  Laflin  Mills: 
lumety,  dumety,  di- 
mity dee. 

!  rl  HE  VIOLIN. 

■  There  is  no 
0Jm  nation  so  far 
advanced,  nor  sav- 
age tribe  sunk  so 
low,  that  it  does  not 
produce  music.  And 
no  tribe  has  ever 
been  found  that  did 
not  make  music  by 
stretching  strings  on 
wood  and  then  vi- 
brate them  by  the 
handsorwith  sticks. 
The  principle  is  as 
old  as  man,  and  old- 
er far  than  history. 
Every  child  makes 
the  discovery  for 
himself  that  a  string 
drawn  tight  will  "sing";  and  the  thought  of 
making  a  musical  instrument  in  this  way 
doubtless  originated  with  the  hunter  who 
twanged  his  bow.  In  Africa,  Stanley  noticed 
that  his  guides  who  were  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows,  would  strike  the  strings,  one 
man  after  another,  so  as  to  produce  a  wierd 
sort  of  music,  and  this  music  acted  as  a  rest 
to  the  nerves  on  the  long  march. 
Who  the  man  was  that  thought  of  placing  a 
sounding  board  behind  the  strings  and  ad- 
ded the  bridge  and  suggested  strands  of 
horsehair  as  a  vibrator,  are  questions  that 
are  shrouded  in  mystery.  And  was  he  re- 
garded as  an  infidel  and  destroyer  of  the 


faith  in  thus  seeking  to  improve  on  a  good 
thing?  Probably,  however,  it  took  a  good 
many  men,  and  a  great  many  years  to  work 
these  changes.  But  the  fact  is  pretty  well  es- 
tablished that  swords  have  been  beaten  into 
plowshares,  and  spears  into  pruning-hooks, 
and  the  deadly  bow  has  transformed  itself 
into  a  musical  instrument  that  shoots  sweet 
sounds  into  the  lis- 

E  take  an  interest  in  the 
lives  of  others  because 
when  we  think  of  another 


we  always  imagine  our  re- 
lationship to  him.  Then, 
too,  other  lives  are  to  a  degree  rep- 
etitions of  our  own  life.  There  are 
certain  things  that  come  to  every 
one,  and  the  rest  we  think  might 
have  happened  to  us,  and  may  yet. 
So  as  we  read,  we  unconsciously 
slip  into  the  life  of  the  other  man 
and  confuse  our  identity  with  his. 
To  put  ourselves  in  his  place  is  the 
only  way  to  understand  and  appre- 
ciate him  &  so  enrich  our  own  lives. 
It  is  imagination  that  gives  us  this 
faculty  of  transmigration  of  souls;  and 
to  have  imagination  is  to  be  univer- 
sal; not  to  have  it  is  to  be  provincial. 


tener's  heart. 
There  are  in  exis- 
tence manuscripts 
which  show  draw- 
ings of  a  musical 
instrument  called  a 
rebec,  used  by  the 
monks  in  the  Sixth 
Century.  The  rebec 
had  a  bridge,  a  tail- 
piece, screws  used 
for  tightening  the 
strings  and  a  sound- 
post.  Some  of  these 
instruments  had  but 
two  strings  &  some 
twenty,  and  were 
manipulated  first  by 
a  genuine  hunter's 
bow.  In  fact  the  bass 
viol  &  the  bow  that 
used  to  play  it,  is  a 
combination  which 
goes  away  back  to 
the  very  dawn  of 
morning.  The  harp 
was  first  only  a  war- 
rior's bow  with  a 
few  strings  added. 
And  several  centuries  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  they  told  of  harps  with  a  thousand 
strings,  which  gentle  fiction  was  doubtless 
based  on  the  idea  that  the  more  strings  you 
have  the  finer  the  music;  but  this  is  an  error 
in  judgment,  for  the  violin  reached  perfec- 
tion with  four  strings,  and  when  three  of 
these  broke  Paganinl  went  right  ahead  and 
produced  ravishing  music  on  one. 
From  the  harp,  the  strings  of  which  were 
picked  with  the  fingers,  or  smitten  with  the 
hand,  arose  a  great  number  of  similar  stringed 
instruments;  and  these  gradually  evolved 
into  the  claver  or  clavichord;  then  the  harp- 
sichord; and  finally  the  grand  piano.  Musi- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  29 


cal  savants  have  recently  told  us  that  the 
modern  piano  represents  the  acme  of  skill, 
and  human  ingenuity  can  go  no  farther.  But 
we  remember  that  Sebastian  Bach  made  a 
similar  remark  two  hundred  years  ago  con- 
cerning the  clavichord,  and  as  the  varnish  is 
hardly  dry  on  the  best  "Chickering"  we  can 
afford  to  simply  enjoy  the  music  — and  wait. 
CBut  not  so  with 


the  violin. Thepiano 
&  violin  trace  back 
to  a  common  par- 
ent, yet  they  belong 
to  different  families. 
CL  Herbert  Spencer 
has  explained  that 
Darwin  never  said 
man  was  descended 
from  the  monkey. 
Darwin  did  say  that 
man  and  the  mon- 
key were  cousins — 
long  centuries  ago 
one  of  them  took  to 
the  plains  and  be- 
came a  man  and  the 
other  stuck  to  the 
woods  and  is  a  mon- 
key yet. 

The  violin  and  pia- 
no are  cousins.  A 
piano  is  bigger  than 
a  violin,  but  it  does 
not  know  more  on 
that  account.  The 
best  violins  are  now 
worth  as  much  as 
half  a  dozen  of  the 
best  pianos.  The  pi- 
ano has  kept  right 
along  growing — in 
size— and  may  get 
bigger  yet,  but  Stra- 
divarius  &  his  play- 
fellows in  the  Kindergarten  of  God,  about 
the  year  1690,  at  Cremona,  struck  the  right 
key,  and  the  "Cremona  violin  "  in  size,  shape 
and  construction  admits  of  no  improvement. 
CMost  instruments  and  tools  used  by  men 
last  the  length  of  life  of  a  man,  and  no  longer. 
But  the  violin  is  handed  down  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  is  loved  as  a  human 
soul  by  men  who  grow  tottering  and  feeble 


and  bequeath  the  beloved  instrument  to  a 
babe  in  arms,  who  in  turn  becomes  a  man, 
grows  old,  and  dying  transfers  the  precious 
instrument  to  his  grandchild.  The  good  vio- 
lin may  be  patched,  mended,  taken  apart  and 
glued  together  again,  but  the  wood  once 
soaked  with  sunshine,  dipped  in  the  silence, 
and  charged  with  the  melody  of  bells  calling 
men  to  prayer,  gives 


EATH-BED  repentances 
may  be  legal  tender  for 
Salvation  in  another  world, 
but  for  this  they  are  below 
par.  And  regeneration  that 
is  postponed  until  a  man  has  no  fur- 
ther capacity  for  sin,  is  little  better; 
for  sin  is  only  perverted  power,  and 
the  man  who  has  no  capacity  for  sin 
has  no  power  to  do  good. 
CWhen  a  man  wrongs  another  he 
wrongs  himself  more;  and  so  is  an 
object  of  pity,  not  revenge. 
C  Unrest  and  ruin  wrought  through 
overtaxed  nerves,  come  largely  from 
owning  too  many  things. 
€L  Happiness  and  a  reasonable  con- 
tent follow  a  just  and  proper  exer- 
cise of  one's  faculties. 
€L  Matter  is  only  mind  in  an  opaque 
condition;  and  all  beauty  is  but  a 
symbol  of  spirit. 

<LFor  the  Sanitarium  Habit  there 
is  no  cure  save  poverty 


out  its  sacred  sound 
whenever  it  is  car- 
essed by  a  sympa- 
thetic hand  and  is 
held  closely  to  the 
heart  of  one  who 
loves  it. 

CONCERN- 

M  ing  right 

hFM  THINKING. 
There  is  a  nervous 
disease  called  para- 
noia. CThe  belief 
that  someone  is  try- 
ing to  undo  you  is 
its  first  symptom. 
The  holding  of  such 
a  thought  feeds  the 
malady. 

We  believe  things 
first  and  look  for  a 
proof  later;  &when 
the  idea  is  once  fix- 
ed in  a  man's  mind 
that  some  one  is  his 
enemy,  reasons  as 
light  as  air  are  to 
him  confirmation 
strong  as  holy  writ. 
The  individual  who 
thinks  he  is  hated, 
will  be  hated,  in  re- 
ality, very  shortly. 
CHate  is  catching. 
CThe  person  who  thinks  another  hates 
him  is,  while  in  that  mood,  most  unlovable. 
CLLove  only  responds  to  love. 
Incipient  paranoia  manifests  itself  in  suspi- 
cion, distrust  and  jealousy.  Acute  paranoia 
reveals  itself  in  pronounced  hallucinations, 
and  efforts  in  the  line  of  revenge,  even  to 
the  taking  of  lives  of  persons  entirely  dis- 
interested. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  30 


Every  police  captain  is  familiar  with  that 
phase  or  paranoia  where  persons  with  star- 
ing eyes  and  cold  sweat  upon  their  foreheads 
demand  protection  from  supposed  enemies 
that  are  upon  their  track. 
The  psychologist  can  look  down  the  para- 
noiac's  past  and  see  the  time  when  the  dis- 
ease was  only  the  germ  of  a  distrust  or  glim- 
mering suspicion. 
ii  Goethe  said,  "I 
have  in  me  the  germ 
of  every  conceiva- 
ble crime."  And  so 
are  we  all  potential 
paranoiacs.  To  har- 
bor the  thought  of 
wrong  is  to  warm 
and  vivify  the  germ. 
<[  If  a  person  in- 
jures me  accident- 
ally, I  am  quite  will- 
ing to  forgive  him. 
If  I  think  he  did  it 
purposely  I  want  to 
fight.  The  matter  lies 
with  me  &  not  with 
him  at  all.  My  men- 
tal state  controls  the 
situation — it  is  vio- 
lence or  peace,  just 
as  I  think.  It  is  quite 
possible  for  me  to 
attribute  an  evil  in- 
tent where  none  ex- 
ists. If  we  can  think 
wrong  we  bring  the 
wrong  into  being,  & 
thus  create  a  condi- 
tion of  hate  out  of 
nothing. 

Then  if  we  can  at- 
tribute wrong  intent 
to  others,  of  course 
they  can  to  us.  Yet 
we  know  that  at  the  last,  what  we  desire 
most,  is  to  be  loved  and  trusted.  And  yet 
this  person  who  attributes  malice  to  us,  can, 
if  we  are  not  guarded,  control  us  through  a 
wrong  thought,  so  as  to  make  us  unlovely 
and  unlovable. 

In  certain  physical  conditions  we  think  less 
of  people  than  in  others.  I  know  a  man  who 
hates  everybody  and  everything  until  about 


HE  world  will  never 
again  pay  much  good 
money  for  being  defamed. 
There  are  no  tidings  of 
great  joy  in  the  thought  of 
lell  and  damnation — no  one  ever  de- 
served them.  The  big  reward  is  for 
the  man  who  will  lighten  our  bur- 
den, and  give  us  courage.  We  want 
hope,  and  hope  for  every  one  —  sal- 
vation for  a  few  and  death  for  many 
will  not  do.  If  you  wish  to  preach 
hell  you  can  do  it  now  only  on  half 
rations.  And  to  meet  the  issue  all 
sensible  preachers  are  talking  less 
about  the  next  world  and  more  about 

thiS  r€&> 

C  Yesterday's  triumphs  belong  to 
yesterday,  with  all  of  yesterday's  de- 
feats and  sorrows.  The  Day  is  here, 
the  time  is  Now. 

il  If  we  are  ever  damned  it  will  not 
be  because  we  have  loved  too  much, 
but  because  we  have  loved  too  little. 


ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.  By  noon  he  is 
quite  approachable,  and  for  an  hour  or  so 
after  dinner  he  is  usually  gentle  and  generous. 
*LDoes  not  the  amount  of  wrong  and  injus- 
tice in  the  world  vary  with  us  all  according  to 
the  time  of  day  and  our  physical  condition? 
€l  We  do  not  fear  anything  but  the  evil. 
The  fear  of  evil  is  largely,  if  not  entirely,  a 
morbid  and  there- 
fore insane  idea. 
From  these  things  I 
gather  that  each  one 
is  really  the  Crea- 
tor of  the  World  in 
which  he  lives.  And 
what  is  more,  every 
man  creates  in  his 
own  image.  Without 
an  evil  thought  there 
never  would  have 
been  any  evil  in  the 
world.  Banish  evil 
thought,  &  thought 
of  evil,  and  there 
would  not  now  be 
anyevilintheworld. 
ClThe  thought  of 
evil  is  born  of  fear. 
Paranoia  as  a  dis- 
ease is  the  direct  re- 
sult of  fear  —  we 
fear  some  one  is  go- 
ing to  harm  us,  and 
then  we  hate.  Hate 
is  a  manifestation  of 
fear,  and  therefore 
is  a  species  of  cow- 
ardice. 

Fear  affects  the  cir- 
culation, even  at 
times  to  stopping  in- 
stantly and  forever 
the  action  of  the 
heart.  A  faulty  cir- 
culation affects  every  organ,  and  most  of 
all,  the  organs  of  digestion.  And  impaired 
digestion  at  once  affects  the  mind. 
Impaired  digestion  means  impaired  thought. 
C  The  treatment  we  receive  at  the  hands  of 
others  is  very  largely  the  reflection  of  our 
own  mental  attitude  toward  them.CPrefix  a 
"d"  to  evil  and  you  get  a  personality.  CAs 
a  man  thinketh,  so  is  he.  {[Think  no  Evil. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  31 


ANNED  LIFE.  "How  do  you  man- 
age to  keep  so  young  with  all  your 
manifold  duties?"  I  once  asked  my 
friend  Bath-House  John. 
"Say,"  said  the  Statesman,  "I  '11  tell  you  how 
I  keep  young,  I  live  Perfunk— see?" 
To  live  Perfunk  is  a  fine  art.  It  usually  means 
sound  sleep,  good  digestion  and  length  of 
days.fL  The  man 


that  a  youth  can  shut  him- 
self away  from  the  actual 
world  of  men,  women  and 
things,  in  a  college  for  a 
few  years  and  then  come  forth  and 
direct  mortals  in  the  way  of  life. 
C  The  only  men  who  should  preach 
are  those  who  can  and  who  have 
done  things. 

CThe  sense  of  humor  consists  in 
knowing  a  big  thing  from  a  little  one. 


that  is  much  before 
the  public,  who  is 
meeting  many  peo- 
ple, must  do  so  in 
a  perfunctory  man- 
ner. To  give  issue 
to  a  genuine  emo- 
tion when  shaking 
hands  with  each 
would  deplete  one's 
life  in  a  day.  Hence 
canned  goods  are  in 
order,  and  you  give 
outcapsuleNumber 
SixorNumberTen, 
as  the  case  requires. 
The  woman  who  is 
in  society  has  a  whole  little  round  of  stock 
phrases  that  meet  every  requirement,  other- 
wise she  could  not  keep  her  plumpness,  and 
conserve  her  ambish — see? 
The  Canned  Life  has  many  advantages.  This 
thing  of  doing  the  same  thing  every  day  at 
the  same  time,  and  taking  all  pleasures  and 
recreations  perfunk,  of  placing  your  duties 
in  a  row,  with  no  worry  beyond  having  a 
can-opener  handy,  is  all  very  good.  Most 
lives  are  Canned  Lives,  for  we  know  exactly 
what  the  person  will  do  or  say  under  certain 
conditions,  and  where  he  will  be  at  a  certain 
hour.  I  have  attended  meetings  of  a  whist 
club  where  not  a  remark  was  made  the 
whole  evening  that  had  not  been  made  at 
some  former  meeting. 

You  step  on  a  dog's  tail,  and  you  may  safely 
wager  on  what  the  dog  will  do.  Just  so  you 
can  anticipate  the  little  neighborly  whist  club 
players.  A  certain  hand  brings  out  certain 
remarks  and  certain  results  liberate  certain 
expressions  in  way  of  exultation,  apology  or 
disappointment.  In  all  this  you  get  the  Ca- 
reer Perfunk— that  is  to  say,  Canned  Life. 
C  However,  there  are  some  disadvantages 
that  naturally  accrue  where  any  one  policy 


of  life  is  carried  to  an  extreme.COn  this 
last  point  the  learned  Dr.  Sulzkeimer,  Phy- 
sician to  the  King  of  Siam,  has  recently  con- 
tributed a  little  pamphlet,  a  copy  of  which 
the  Doctor  was  so  kind  as  to  send  me. 
In  this  booklet  the  claim  is  made  that  all  dis- 
eases are  caused  either  by  too  much  excite- 
ment, or  not  enough.  Excitement  of  course 
,  increases  the  heart- 

T  is  ridiculous  to  suppose 


beat — thepulseruns 
up,  the  eyes  begin 
to  glisten,  thought 
flows, —  all  the  se- 
cretions are  active. 
To  a  certain  point 
this  is  well,  for  the 
digestion  is  aided, 
lungs  expand,  and 
the  glands,  through 
exercise,  are  in  con- 
dition to  do  their 
perfect  work. 
But  of  course  if  the 
excitement  is  con- 
tinued beyond  this 
certain  point  the  bo- 
dily functions  become  deranged,  the  nerves 
get  tired  of  the  tension,  and  eventually  we 
will  have  a  case  of  "Nerves,"  variously 
known  as  Americanitis  or  Nervous  Prostra- 
tion, with  a  fine  array  of  local  symptoms, 
covering  every  sort  of  twinge,  tired  feeling 
and  bearing  down  sensation  mentioned  by 
the  celebrated  Doctors  Munyon  and  Pierce 
in  their  exhaustive  and  exhausting  Wurx. 
CLOn  the  other  hand  are  the  diseases  and 
complaints  that  come  from  lack  of  excite- 
ment— that  is,  too  much  Canned  Life.  The 
prevalence  of  insanity  among  the  wives  of 
farmers  is  caused  by  too  much  Canned  Life. 
The  poor  creatures  perish  for  the  lack  of  a 
fresh  thought.  First  in  the  list  of  diseases 
caused  by  lack  of  excitement  our  learned 
author  names  cancer,  which  he  explains  is 
caused  originally  by  a  faulty  circulation.  A 
stoppage  occurs,  and  nature  tries  to  relieve 
the  distressed  point  by  sending  more  blood 
to  the  spot.  Then  we  get  congestion  and  next 
inflammation.  A  certain  amount  of  excitation 
at  the  right  time  the  author  avers  would  have 
freed  the  system  from  all  congestion  and 
made  cancer  impossible. 
There  are  also  a  whole  round  of  maladies 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  32 


that  can  be  cured  by  a  new  thought,  a  new 
sensation,  new  surroundings.  A  little  excite- 
ment or  a  new  experience  often  clears  the 
cobwebs  from  the  brain. 
Elizabeth  Barrett  was  suffering  from  partial 
paralysis,  and  a  low  degree  of  nerve  force 
that  was  fast  pushing  her  in  the  direction  of 
melancholia.  In  fact  she  was  suffering  from 
too  much  Canned 


1 


ALTER  BESANT  AND  SOME  OF 
HIS  CRITICS.  In  London,  where 
live  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men, 


hind  which  we  hide  our 
ignorance;  and  our  forced 
dignity  is  what  makes  the 
imps  of  comedy,  who  sit 
aloft  in  the  sky,  hold  their  sides  in 
merriment  when  they  behold  us  de- 
manding obeisance  because  we  have 
fallen  heir  to  tuppence  worth  of 
talent  >e^€^es^e3g!v€&>»e&*#&»»#&> 
<L  Many  people  cannot  adjust  them- 
selves to  new  conditions  withoutpain. 

Every- 


Life.  Love  came  to 
her,  and  she  liter- 
ally, as  well  as  po- 
etically, ran  away, 
and  got  well. 
This,  of  course,  is 
an  extreme  case,  but 
there  are  times  in 
the  life  of  every  one 
when  people  pall, 
liver  strikes,  aches 
intervene  &  visions 
open  of  an  operat- 
ing table,  sterilizing 
pans,  nurses  with 
white  caps,  and  a 
doctor  with  bushy 
whiskers  and  rolled  up  sleeves, 
thing  seems  going  to  the  devil. 
When  lo!  there  comes  one  bearing  glad  tid- 
ings. A  new  thought  takes  possession  of  us 
—we  laugh  and  listen  to  a  story  or  two  and 
tell  one — we  go  for  a  walk,  the  clouds  lift 
and  we  forget  we  ever  had  a  doubt  or  pain. 
C.  Is  n't  this  the  Healing  Principle  in  Chris- 
tian Science — simply  good  news? 
God  is  good,  there  is  no  devil  but  fear, 
nothing  can  harm  us,  the  Universe  is  planned 
for  good!  Ah!  a  new  thought — all  life  is  one, 
and  we  are  brothers  to  the  birds  and  trees. 
Our  life  is  a  necessary  and  integral  part  of 
the  Energy  that  turns  the  wheeling  planets, 
and  holds  the  world  in  space. 
All  life  is  One— God  is  on  our  side.  We  are 
freed  from  fear,  emancipated  from  appre- 
hension, and  filled  with  kindness  toward 
every  living  thing  because  all  is  ours,  and 
we  are  a  part  of  all  we  hear  and  feel  and  see. 
C  Circulation  is  increased,  secretions  flow, 
eyes  brighten,  beautiful  thoughts  animate 
us— saved  by  an  Idea! 
New  thoughts  are  hygienic. 
Love  is  a  tonic. 

All  Life  is  One— God  is  on  our  side. 


once  lived  one  Sir  Walter  Besant. 
Sir  Walter  often  took  a  walk  out  through 
Hyde  Park.  At  the  entrance  to  the  Park  there 
used  to  crouch  an  old  beggar  woman,  who 
held  out  a  grimy  hand  and  mumbled  a  woe- 
m\TTTv  •     «  .  ,        ful  tale  of  a  dead 

IGNITY  is  the  mask  be- 


soldier  husband  & 
hungry  mouths  at 
home. 

Sir  Walter  always 
gave  the  woman  a 
big  copper  penny  as 
he  passed. 
It  grew  into  a  habit. 
C  After  a  time  Sir 
Walter  and  the  old 
woman  were  quite 
friendly:  he  nodded 
to  her  and  spoke  of 
the  weather  as  he 
gave  her  the  penny, 
and  she  showered 
on  him  her  bless- 
ings with  a  tongue  needlessly  glib. 
One  day  as  he  gave  her  the  penny  he  stopped 
to  talk  a  moment,  as  he  occasionally  did,  and 
the  old  woman  handed  him  back  the  penny. 
"Guv  me  siller  or  nawthink,"  said  the  wo- 
man, "the  idea  of  a  gent  like  you  guvin  a 
poor  old  woman  like  me  a  dirty  penny — 
guv  me  siller!" 

The  woman  came  close  and  stuck  her  face 
up  close  to  his  and  waved  her  arms  in  threat. 
CSir  Walter  started  to  go. 
Her  voice  shot  up  into  a  cracked  and  vicious 
falsetto,  she  grabbed  the  lapel  of  his  coat 
and  screamed,  "Guv  me  siller,  you  rascally 
rogue!  Guv  me  what  you  owe  me!" 
Other  beggars  began  to  crowd  around.  Cab- 
men came  running  from  across  the  road; 
pedestrians  stopped.  There  was  a  mob  gath- 
ering. 

The  woman  made  her  appeal  to  the  crowd. 
"Look  at  him  now!  Just  look  at  him  —  he 's 
the  man  that  did  it!  He  ruined  me  self-re- 
speck —  he  ruined  me  self-respeck!" 
The  cabbies  gathered  close  and  began  to 
mutter  threats — they  were  clearly  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  old  woman. "  He  ruined  me  self- 
respeck!  He  guv  me  dole— he  guv  me  dole!" 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  33 


C.  Sir  Walter  reached  into  his  pocket,  and 
taking  out  a  handful  of  small  coin,  scattered 
it  among  the  crowd. 

During  the  scrimmage  he  made  his  escape. 
C  The  next  day  Sir  Walter  took  his  walk  in 
another  direction. 

Once  after  that  in  Whitechapel  he  was  star- 
tled by  a  shrill  voice,  calling,  "There  he 
goes,  there  he  goes. 


-the  man  wot  ruin 
ed  me  self-respeck! 
Look  at  him,  the 
fine  rascal — he  guv 
me  dole — he  guv 
me  dole!" 
Sir  Walter  saw  a 
bus  approaching,  & 
barely  reached  the 
ladder  &  climbed  to 


N 


but  perhaps  his  act  was  wrong— who  knows! 
<L  Anyway,  keep  sweet— in  the  main  human- 
ity wish  to  do  what  is  right.  For  a  few  days 
that  old  beggar  assumed  a  place  in  Sir  Wal- 
ter's horizon  quite  out  of  keeping  with  her 
importance.  But  in  this  transaction  you 
should  pity  the  woman,  not  the  man. 
She  forfeited  the  friendship  of  Sir  Walter 
Besant. 

Nature  there  are  no 


such  things  as  reward  and 
punishment,  as  these 
terms  are  ordinarily  used. 
There  are  only  good  re- 
sults and  bad  results.  We  sow,  and 
we  reap  what  we  have  sown. 
the"toprwhen"there      Art  is  the  beautiful  way  of  doing 
was  a  gang  of  urch-  things.  Civilization  is  the  expeditious 
way  of  doing  things. 
C  To  be  your  brother's  keeper  is 
very  excellent,  if  you  do  not  cease 
to  be  his  friend. 

C  Teachers  are  those  who  educate 
people  to  appreciate  the  things  they 
need  >4^rt^j^,G^&&&&&&r&®> 


ins  and  old  women 
behind,  pointing  at 
him,  thus,  "That's 
Mm— the  fine  rogue 
wi'the  long  wiskers 
—the  bloke  in  the 
Mgh  'at!" 

Sir  Walter's  exper- 
ience is  not  unique 
among  philanthro- 
pists. Everybody 
who  is  anybody  has  gotten  the  hatred  of 
people  by  trying  to  help  them.  Your  enemies 
are  those  you  have  helped  most. 
This  sort  of  thing  is  what  so  often  turns  the 
milk  of  human  kindness  to  bonnyclabber. 
But  if  we  were  strong  enough  we  would 
never  resent  it;  and  Sir  Walter,  big,  gener- 
ous soul  that  he  was,  did  not  complain  of  his 
treatment— it  was  all  a  queer  little  comedy, 
with  a  touch  of  pathos  in  it,  as  all  true  com- 
edy has,  just  as  tragedy  itself  is  flavored  by 
comedy.  The  world  is  not  made  up  of  beg- 
gars, ingrates  and  fools — it  is  the  patient 
workers  and  the  active,  kindly,  sympathetic 
men  and  women  who  hold  the  balance  of 
things  secure. 

No  man  who  does  a  good  deed  should  ex- 
pect gratitude.  The  reward  for  a  good  deed 
is  in  having  done  it.  And  possibly  Sir  Wal- 
ter made  a  mistake  ever  to  give  that  first 
penny  to  the  old  woman.  His  heart  was  right, 


God  help  all  those, 
who  through  ignor- 
ance or  folly,  push 
from  them  the  gen- 
erous hearts  that 
might  help  &  bless ! 

mil  HITESLAV- 
IMI  ERYINTHE 
tAJJ  SOUTH.  Af- 
ter Massachusetts, 
there  is  more  cotton 
cloth  manufactured 
in  South  Carolina 
than  in  any  other 
state  in  the  Union. 
The  cotton  mills  of 
South  Carolina  are 
mostly  owned  and 
operated  by  New 
England  capital. 
In  many  instances 
the  machinery  of  the 
cotton  mills  has  been  moved  entire  from 
Massachusetts  to  South  Carolina.  The  move 
was  made  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  be- 
ing near  the  raw  product;  but  the  actual 
reason  is,  that  in  South  Carolina  there  is  no 
law  regulating  child  labor.  Heartless  cupid- 
ity has  joined  hands  with  brutal  ignorance, 
and  the  result  is  child  labor  of  so  terrible  a 
type  that  African  slavery  was  a  paradise 
compared  with  it. 

Many  of  the  black  slaves  lived  to  a  good  old 
age,  and  they  got  a  hearty  enjoyment  from  life. 
C.  The  infant  factory  slaves  of  South  Caro- 
lina can  never  develop  into  men  and  women. 
There  are  no  mortality  statistics;  the  mill 
owners  baffle  all  attempts  of  the  outside 
public  to  get  at  the  facts,  but  my  opinion  is, 
that  in  many  mills  death  sets  the  little  pris- 
oner free  inside  of  four  years.  Beyond  that 
he  cannot  hope  to  live,  and  this  opinion 
is  derived  from  careful  observation,  and 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  34 


interviews  with  several  skilled  and  experi- 
enced physicians  who  practice  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  mills. 

Boys  and  girls  from  the  age  of  six  years  and 
upwards  are  employed.  They  usually  work 
from  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  seven 
at  night.  For  four  months  of  the  year,  they 
go  to  work  before  daylight  and  they  work 
until  after  it  is  dark. 


41  At  noon  I  saw 
them  squat  on  the 
floor  &  devour  their 
food,  which  consist- 
ed mostly  of  corn 
bread  and  bacon. 
These  weazened 
pigmies  munched  in 
silence,  &  then  top- 
pled over  in  sleep 
on  the  floor  in  all 
the  abandon  of  ba- 
byhood. Very  few 
wore  shoes  &  stock- 
ings; dozens  of  lit- 
tle girls  of,  say,  six 
years  of  age,  wore 
only  one  garment, 
a  plain  linsey-wool- 
sey dress.  When  it 
came  time  to  go  to 
work  the  foreman 
marched  thro'  the 
groups,  shaking  the  sleepers,  shouting  in 
their  ears,  lifting  them  to  their  feet,  and  in  a 
few  instances  kicking  the  delinquents  into 
wakefulness. 

The  long  afternoon  had  begun  —  from  a 
quarter  to  one  until  seven  o'clock  they  had 
to  work  without  respite  or  rest. 
These  toddlers,  I  saw,  for  the  most  part  did 
but  one  thing — they  watched  the  flying  spin- 
dles on  a  frame  twenty  feet  long,  and  tied 
the  broken  threads.  They  could  not  sit  at 
their  tasks;  back  and  forward  they  paced, 
watching  with  inanimate  dull  look,  the  fly- 
ing spindles.  The  roar  of  the  machinery 
drowned  every  other  sound — back  and  forth 
paced  the  baby  toilers  in  their  bare  feet,  and 
mended  the  broken  threads.  Two,  three  or 
four  threads  would  break  before  they  could 
patrol  the  twenty  feet  — the  threads  were  al- 
ways breaking! 

The  noise  and  the  constant  looking  at  the 


flying  wheels  reduce  nervous  sensation  in  a 
few  months  to  the  minimum.  The  child  does 
not  think,  he  ceases  to  suffer — memory  is 
as  dead  as  hope:  no  more  does  he  long  for 
the  green  fields,  the  running  streams,  the 
freedom  of  the  woods,  and  the  companion- 
ship of  all  the  wild,  free  things  that  run,  fly, 
climb,  swim  or  burrow,  living  their  own  lives. 

He  does  his  work 

DO  not  see  how  any  man, 


even  though  he  be  divine, 
could  expect  or  hope  to 
have  as  many  as  twelve 
disciples  and  hold  them 
:for  three  years  without  being  doubt- 
ed, denied  and  betrayed. 
C.  If  pleasures  are  greater  in  antici- 
pation, just  remember  that  this  is 
true  also  of  troubles. 
<L  Poetry  is  an  ecstacy  of  the  spirit, 
and  ecstacies  in  their  very  nature  are 
not  sustained  moods. 
CA  splendid  woman  is  generally 
the  daughter  of  her  father,  just  as 
strong  men  have  noble  mothers. 


like  an  automaton: 
he  is  a  part  of  the 
roaring  machinery: 
memory  is  seared, 
physical  vitality  is 
at  such  low  ebb  that 
he  ceases  to  suffer. 
Nature  puts  a  short 
limit  on  torture  by 
sending  insensibil- 
ity. If  you  suffer, 
thank  God! — it  is 
a  sure  sign  that  you 
are  alive. 

At  a  certain  night 
school,  where  some 
good  women  were 
putting  forth  efforts 
to  mitigate  the  con- 
dition of  these  baby 
slaves,  one  of  the 
teachers  said  to  me 
that  they  did  not  try 
to  teach  the  children  to  read — they  simply 
put  forth  an  effort  to  arouse  the  spirit  through 
pictures  and  telling  stories.  In  this  school  I 
saw  the  sad  spectacle  of  half  the  class,  of  a 
dozen  or  more,  sunk  into  sleep  that  more 
resembled  a  stupor.  The  teacher  was  a  fine, 
competent  woman,  but  worn-out  nature  was 
too  much  for  her — to  teach  you  must  make 
your  appeal  to  life. 

The  parents  of  the  children  sent  them  there 
so  they  could  be  taught  to  read,  but  I  was 
told  by  one  who  knew,  that  no  child  of,  say, 
seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  who  had  worked 
in  the  mill  a  year,  could  ever  learn  to  read. 
He  is  defective  from  that  time  on.  A  year  in 
the  mills,  and  he  loses  the  capacity  to  play; 
and  the  child  that  cannot  play,  cannot  learn. 
3iWe  learn  in  moments  of  joy;  play  is  edu- 
cation; pleasurable  animation  is  necessary 
to  growth ;  and  when  you  have  robbed  a  child 
of  its  play  spell,  you  have  robbed  it  of  its  life. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  35 


C  The  reason  that  thought  flags  and  stupor 
takes  possession  of  the  child  who  works  at 
one  task  for  eleven  hours  a  day,  is  through 
the  fact  that  he  does  not  express  himself.  We 
grow  through  expression,  and  expression, 
which  is  exercise,  is  necessary  to  life.  The 
child  in  the  mill  never  talks  to  any  one — 
even  if  the  rules  did  not  forbid  it,  the  roar 
of  all  that  machin- 


HE  author  who  has  not 
made  warm  friends  and 
then  lost  them  in  an  hour 
by  writing  things  that  did 
not  agree  with  the  precon- 
ceived idea  of  these  friends,  has 
either  not  written  well  or  has  not 
been  read. 

Clf  you  could  make  men  believe 
that  peace,  truth,  honesty  and  indus- 
try were  the  best  standards  to  adopt 
— bringing  the  best  results — all  men 
would  adopt  them. 
C-The  Conservative  is  a  man  who 
puts  on  the  brakes  when  he  thinks 
Progress  is  going  to  land  Civiliza- 
tion in  the  ditch. 

C I  wish  to  meet  all  men  on  an  ab- 
solute equality:  to  face  any  obstacle 
and  meet  every  difficulty  unabashed 
and  unafraid. 

<LThe  poetic  mood  is  transient.  A 
composition  by  Chopin  is  a  soul  ec- 
stacy,  like  unto  the  singing  of  a  lark. 
CI  To  make  a  good  impression  means 
to  make  a  man  pleased  with  himself. 
C, There  is  no  copyright  on  stupidity. 


ery  would  make  it 
impossible.  All  or- 
ders are  carried  out 
in  pantomime,  em- 
phasized by  punch- 
es, pinches,  pokes, 
shakes  and  kicks. 
This  wee  slave  loses 
all  relationship  with 
his  fellows  and  the 
world  around  him. 
CLl  thought  to  lift 
one  of  the  little  toil- 
ers to  ascertain  his 
weight.  Straightway 
through  his  thirty- 
five  pounds  of  skin 
and  bones  there  ran 
a  tremor  of  fear,  and 
he  struggled  ahead 
to  tie  a  thread  that 
was  broken.  I  at- 
tracted his  attention 
by  a  touch,  and  of- 
fered him  a  silver 
dime.  He  looked  at 
me  dumbly  from  a 
face  that  might  have 
belonged  to  a  man 
of  sixty,  so  furrow- 
ed, tightly  drawn  & 
full  of  pain  it  was. 
He  did  not  reach  for 
the  money — he  did 
not  know  what  it 
was.  I  tried  to  stroke 
his  head  and  caress 
his  cheek.  My  smile 
of  friendship  meant  nothing  to  him— he 
shrank  from  my  touch,  as  though  he  expect- 
ed punishment.  A  caress  was  unknown  to 
this  child,  sympathy  had  never  been  his 
portion,  and  the  love  of  a  mother  who  only 
a  short  time  before  held  him  in  her  arms, 


had  all  been  forgotten  in  the  whir  of  wheels 
and  the  awful  silence  of  a  din  that  knows  no 
respite. 

There  were  dozens  of  just  such  children  in 
this  particular  mill.  A  physician  who  was 
with  me  said  that  they  would  all  be  dead, 
probably  in  two  years,  and  their  places  filled 
with  others — there  were  plenty  more.  Pneu- 
monia carries  away 
most  of  them.  Their 
systems  are  ripe  for 
disease,  and  when 
it  comes,  there  is 
no  rebound — no  re- 
sponse. The  medi- 
cine does  not  act 
—  nature  is  beaten, 
whipped,  discour- 
aged, and  the  child 
sinks  into  a  stupor, 
and  dies. 

There  are  now  only 
five  states,  I  think, 
that  have  no  laws 
restricting  the  em- 
ployment of  child- 
ren. Child  labor  ex- 
ists in  Georgia  and 
Alabama,  to  an  ex- 
tent nearly  as  bad 
as  it  does  in  South 
Carolina.  In  each 
of  these  states  there 
are  bands  of  brave 
men  &  women  who 
are  waging  war  to 
stop  the  slaughter  of 
the  innocents;  and 
these  men  and  wo- 
men have  so  forced 
the  issue  that  the 
mill  owners  are  giv- 
ing way  before  them 
and  offering  com- 
promise. But  South 
Carolina  lags  and 
the  brave  workers 
for  liberty  there  seem  a  hopeless  minority. 
CFor  these  things  let  Massachusetts  an- 
swer. South  Carolina  weaves  cotton  that 
Massachusetts  may  wear  silk. 
South  Carolina  cannot  abolish  child  labor 
because  the  mill  owners,  who  live  in  New 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  36 


mi 


England,  oppose  it.  They  have  invested  their 
millions  in  South  Carolina,  with  the  tacit 
understanding  with  Legislature  and  Gov- 
ernor that  there  shall  be  no  State  inspection 
of  mills,  nor  interference  in  any  way  with 
their  management  of  employees.  Each  suc- 
ceeding election  the  candidates  for  the  Leg- 
islature secretly  make  promises  that  they 
will  not  pass  a  law 
forbidding  child  la- 
bor. They  can  nev- 
er hope  for  election 
otherwise — the  cap- 
italists combinewith 
the  "crackers,"  and 
any  man  who  fav- 
ors the  restriction 
of  child  labor  is 
marked  for  defeat. 
ii  The  cracker,  cap- 
italist and  preacher 
live  on  child  labor, 
and  the  person  who 
lifts  his  voice  in  be- 
half of  the  children 
is  denounced  as  a 
sickly  sentimental- 
ist, who  is  endeav- 
oring to  discourage 
the  best  interests  of 
the  State.The  crack- 
er does  not  reason 
quite  thus  far — with 
him  it  is  a  question 
of  "rights,  sah,"  & 
he  is  the  head  of 
his  family  and  you 
must  not  meddle, — 
his  honor  is  at  stake. 
<i  So  at  every  elec- 
tion he  is  jealously 
guarding  his  rights 
—  he  has  n't  any- 
thing else  to  do — he 
has  lost  everything 
else  but  "honor." 


If  women  could  vote 
in  South  Carolina  they  would  wipe  child 
labor  out  with  a  sweep,  but  alas!  a  woman 
in  South  Carolina  does  not  own  even  her 
own  body.  South  Carolina  is  the  only  state 
in  the  Union  that  has  no  divorce  law.  In 
South  Carolina  the  gracious,  gentle  woman 


married  to  a  rogue  has  him  for  life,  and  he 
has  her.  The  State  objects  to  their  getting 
apart.  The  fetters  forged  in  South  Carolina 
never  break  (in  South  Carolina),  and  the 
key  is  lost. 

I  say  these  things  with  no  prejudice  against 
the  people  of  South  Carolina  as  a  whole,  for 
some  of  the  bravest,  gentlest,  sanest,  most 
loyal  and  most  hos- 

reformer  is  a  savior  pitabie  friends  that 

I  have  in  the  world 
live  there.  I  make 
the  mention  merely 
as  a  matter  of  fact 
to  show  that  the  ma- 
jority of  the  people 
in  South  Carolina 
have  a  long  way  to 
travel  and  are  good 
raw  stock  for  mis- 
sionary work. 
I  learned  from  a  re- 
liable source  that  a 
cotton  mill  having  a 
pay-roll  of  six  thou- 
sand dollars  a  week 
in  New  England, 
can  be  run  in  the 
South  for  four  thou- 
sand dollars  a  week. 
This  means  a  saving 
of  just  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  a 
year:  and  the  mill 
having  a  capital  of 
one  million  dollars 
thusgetsacleargain 
of  ten  per  cent  per 
annum. 

One  mill  at  Colum- 
bia, South  Caroli- 
na, has  a  capital  of 
two  million  dollars. 
In  half  adozen  other 
cities  there  are  mills 
with  a  capital  of  a 


HE 

or  a  rebel,  all  depending 
largely  upon  whether  he 
succeeds  or  fails.  He  is 
what  he  is  regardless  of 
what  men  think  of  him. 
*LWe  can  go  forward  only  as  we 
leave  hate  behind.  If  we  sow  hate 
we  must  reap  hate.  We  awaken  in 
others  the  same  attitude  that  we 
hold  toward  them. 
€L  To  be  modest  and  gentle  and  kind, 
as  we  all  can  be,  is  just  as  much  to 
God  as  to  be  learned  and  talented, 
and  yet  a  cad. 

it  A  good  time  to  laugh  is  when  you 
see  a  mighty  bundle  of  pretense  and 
affectation  coming  down  the  street. 
<L  Everything  is  comparative;  that  is 
the  only  way  we  realize  anything — 
by  comparing  it  with  something  else. 
*L  Reformers  are  often  merely  "ab- 
stainers"—  they  abstain  from  things 
and  call  it  "virtue." 
ilThe  pathway  to  success  lies  in 
serving  the  public,  not  in  affronting  it. 
it  Let  us  be  Radiant! 


million  dollars  or 
more.  These  mills  all  have  Company  Depart- 
ment Stores,  where  the  employees  trade. 
A  certain  credit  is  given,  and  the  employee 
who  has  a  dollar  coming  to  him  in  cold  cash 
is  very,  very  rare.  The  cashier  of  one  mill 
told  me  that  nineteen  families  out  of  twenty 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  37 


never  see  any  cash,  and  probably  never 
will.  The  account  is  kept  with  the  head  of 
the  house.  Against  him  are  charged  house 
rent,  insurance,  fuel — three  things  the  man 
never  thought  of.  Next,  the  orders  drawn  on 
the  Company  must  be  met.  Then  come  gro- 
ceries, clothing  and  gew-gaws  that  the  young 
women  are  tempted  into  buying,  providing 
the  account  is  not  ^  v  . 
already  overdrawn,  tl  IOU  can  only 
Sometimes  it  occurs  helping 
that  the  account  is 
so  much  overdrawn  by  the  last  of  the  month 
that  the  storekeeper  will  dole  out  only  corn 
meal  and  bacon — just  these  two  things  to 
prevent  starvation  and  keep  the  family  at 
work. 

The  genial  cashier  who  made  this  explana- 
tion to  me,  did  it  to  reveal  the  pitiable  ignor- 
ance of  the  "poor  whites," — the  cracker 
cannot  figure  his  account — it  is  all  a  matter 
of  faith  with  him.  "To  manage  a  cracker  you 
have  to  keep  him  in  debt  to  you,"  explained 
my  friend,  "then  you  can  control  his  vote, 
and  his  family." 

The  ingenuity  displayed  in  securing  the  la- 
borers reveals  the  instincts  of  Connecti- 
cut," to  use  the  phrase  of  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson.  There  are  men  called  "  Employing 
Agents"  who  drive  through  the  country  and 
make  the  acquaintance  of  the  poor  whites — 
the  "white  trash."  This  expression,  by  the 
way,  was  launched  by  the  negroes,  and  then 
taken  up  by  the  whites.  No  white  man  will 
acknowledge  himself  as  "trash,"  but  he  ap- 
plies the  epithet  to  others  who  are  supposed 
to  be  still  more  trashy  than  himself. 
No  matter  how  poor  these  whites  are,  they 
are  always  well  stuffed  with  pride — they 
are  as  proud  as  the  rich,  and  they  would 
conduct  themselves  just  like  the  F.  F.  V's,  if 
they  had  the  money.  They  are  F.  F.  V's, 
slightly  run  down  at  the  heel. 
They  apologize  for  their  poverty  and  lay  it 
all  to  the  war.  All  consider  themselves  very 
much  above  the  negroes— they  will  not  work 
with  the  blacks. 

The  Employing  Agent  drops  in  on  this  poor 
white  family  and  there  is  much  friendly  con- 
versation— for  time  is  no  object  to  the  cracker. 
Gradually  the  scheme  is  unfolded.  There  is 
a  nice  man  who  owns  a  mill — he  will  not 
employ  negroes — they  are  not  sufficiently 


intelligent.  The  visitor  can  get  work  for  all 
the  women  and  the  children  of  the  house- 
hold with  this  nice  man.  There  will  be  no 
work  for  the  man  of  the  house,  but  he  can 
get  odd  jobs  in  the  town. 
This  suits  the  cracker— he  does  not  want  to 
work.  A  house  will  be  supplied  gratis  for 
them  to  live  in.  A  photograph  of  the  house 
,    ,  in  i      is  shown  — it  is  a 

help  yourself  by  veritable  palace  in 
comparison  with  the 
place  they  now  call 
home.  The  visitor  goes  away,  promising  to 
call  again  the  next  week.  He  comes  back 
and  reports  that  he  has  seen  his  friend,  the 
house  is  ready,  work  is  waiting,  wages  in 
cash  will  be  paid  every  Saturday  night. 
CCash! 

Why,  this  poor  white  family  never  saw  any 
real  cash  in  all  their  lives! 
A  printed  agreement  is  produced  and  signed. 
Clf  the  cracker  has  n't  quite  energy  enough 
to  move,  the  Employing  Agent  packs  up  his 
scanty  effects  and  advances  money  for  car 
fare.  The  family  land  in  the  mill  town,  are 
quartered  in  one  of  the  company's  cottages 
and  go  to  work — the  mother  and  all  the 
children  over  five.  The  head  of  the  house 
stays  at  home  to  do  the  housework,  and  be- 
ing a  man,  of  course,  he  does  n't  do  it.  He  goes 
to  the  grocery  or  some  other  loafing  place 
where  there  are  other  men  in  the  same  happy 
condition  as  himself.  Idle  men  in  the  South, 
as  elsewhere,  do  not  feel  very  well  —  they 
need  a  little  stimulant,  and  take  it.  The  cracker 
discovers  he  can  get  whiskey  and  pay  for  it 
with  an  order  on  the  Company. 
He  is  very  happy,  and  needless  to  say,  is 
quite  opposed  to  any  fanatic  who  would  like 
to  interfere  in  his  family  relations.  He  is  not 
aware  of  it,  but  he  has  sold  his  wife  and 
children  into  a  five  years'  slavery.  The  Com- 
pany threatens  and  has  the  right  to  discharge 
them  all  if  one  quits — even  the  mother  is 
not  free. 

But  the  cracker  knows  his  rights — he  is  the 
head  of  his  family,  the  labor  of  his  children 
is  his  until  the  girls  are  eighteen  and  the 
boys  twenty-one.  He  knows  these  things 
and  he  starts  them  off  to  their  work  while  it 
is  yet  night. 

And  at  the  mill  the  overseers  look  after 
them.  These  overseers  are  Northern  men  — 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  38 


ers 


sent  down  by  the  capitalists.  In  war  time  the 
best  slave-drivers  were  Northerners  —  they 
have  the  true  spirit  and  get  the  work  done. 
If  necessary  they  do  not  hesitate  to  "re- 
prove" their  charges. 

But  the  cracker  wants  to  be  kind;  he  wants 
to  accumulate  enough  money  to  buy  a  home 
in  the  country  —  it  will  take  only  a  few  years  1 
The  overseers  do 
not  wish  to  be  bru- 
tal, but  they  have  to 
report  to  the  super- 
intendents,—there  must  be  so  much  cloth 
made  every  day.  The  superintendent  is  not 
a  bad  man  —  but  he  has  to  make  a  daily  re- 
port to  the  President  of  the  Company;  and 
the  President  has  to  report  to  the  Stock- 
holders. 

The  Stockholders  live  in  Boston,  and  all 
they  want  is  their  dividends.  When  they  go 
South  they  go  to  Pinehurst,  Asheville  or  St. 
Augustine.  Details  of  the  mills  are  not  pleas- 
ant; they  simply  leave  matters  to  the  good 
men  who  operate  the  mills — it  is  against 
their  policy  to  dictate. 
Capital  is  King,  not  cotton.  But  capital  is 
blind  and  deaf  to  all  that  is  not  to  its  inter- 
est: it  will  not  act  while  child  labor  means 
ten  per  cent  dividends  on  industrial  stocks. 
Clnstead  of  abolishing  child  labor,  capital 
gives  a  lot,  near  the  mill  property,  to  any 
preacher  who  will  build  a  church,  and  an- 
other lot  for  a  parsonage,  and  then  agrees 
to  double  the  amount  any  denomination  will 
raise  for  a  church  edifice. 
Within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  one  cotton 
mill,  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  I  counted 
seven  churches,  completed  or  in  process  of 
erection. 

And  that  is  the  way  the  mill  owners  capture 
the  clergy.  In  talking  with  various  preachers 
on  the  question  of  child  labor  they  all,  I 
found,  had  arguments  to  excuse  it,  blissfully 
unaware  that  the  entire  question  had  been 
fought  out  in  the  world's  assize,  and  that 
Civilization  fifty  years  ago  had  placed  her 
stamp  of  disapproval  on  the  matter.  One 
preacher  put  it  in  this  way,  with  a  gracious, 
patronizing  smile  (I  quote  his  exact  words): 
Oh,  of  course,  it  is  pretty  bad  — but  then, 
dear  brother,  you  know  the  children  are  bet- 
ter off  in  the  mill  than  running  the  streets!" 
C  It  is  assumed  that  there  are  only  two  oc- 


CGod  made  flowers  only  that  lov- 
might  make  suitable  gifts 


cupations  for  children  — working  in  the  mill 
and  running  the  streets.  And  then  this  man 
of  God  confessed  to  me  without  shame  that 
many  of  the  men  whose  whole  families 
worked  in  the  mills,  subscribed  one-tenth  of 
their  income  to  the  support  of  "the  Gospel," 
and  gave  him  an  order  on  the  Mill  Company 
for  the  amount;  and  this  amount  was  with- 
held from  the  wages 
and  paid  to  him  reg- 
ularly by  the  cash- 
ier of  the  Company. 
C  The  majority  of  the  clergy  of  South  Caro- 
lina have  always  stood  for  slavery.  The 
clergy  never  move  faster  than  the  people, 
usually  lagging  a  little  behind.  To  get  ahead 
of  the  pews  is  to  separate  from  them,  so  the 
average  clergyman  will  not  champion  an  un- 
popular cause.  The  clergyman  who  speaks 
his  mind  for  freedom  has  to  get  out  of  the 
church.  Luther,  Savonarola,  Emerson,  Mc- 
Glynn,  Beecher,  Prof.  Swing,  Dr.  Thomas 
and  all  that  band  of  preachers  who  have 
stood  out  and  voiced  the  cause  of  freedom, 
have  been  regarded  by  their  denominations 
as  renegades.  Exile  and  ostracism  have  been 
the  lot  of  freedom's  champions;  and  their 
ostracism  and  social  disgrace  have  been  the 
work  of  the  respectable  element  in  the  church. 
C  And  the  reason  the  church  has  always 
sided  with  slavery  is  because  she  has  thrived 
on  the  profits  of  slavery. 
We  have  heard  much  about  the  danger  that 
follows  an  alliance  between  church  and 
state;  but  what  think  you  of  a  partnership 
between  grasping  greed  and  religion  —  the 
professed  religion  of  the  suffering,  bleeding 
Christ,  the  Christ  who  had  not  where  to 
lay  His  head! 

The  Orthodox  Protestant  preacher  is  an  in- 
stitution in  the  South.  You  see  his  well-but- 
tered face  on  every  train,  at  every  station  — 
he  attends  every  gathering — nothing  can  be 
done  without  him.  He  preaches  "the  blood 
of  Jesus,"  and  nothing  else.  His  gospel  is 
the  promise  of  a  perfect  paradise  hereafter 
for  all  who  believe  as  he  does,  and  hell  and 
damnation  for  all  who  don't.  There  has  not 
been  a  patentable  improvement  made  on  his 
devil  in  two  hundred  years. 
The  South  is  priest-ridden  to  an  extent  that 
should  make  Italy  and  Spain  jealous.  The 
preacher  is  a  power.  One  of  them  explained 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  39 


to  me  that  most  of  the  heads  of  families  that 
worked  in  the  mills  were  "Christian  peo- 
ple." He  seemed  to  think  that  Jesus  said, 
Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  Me  and 
forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom 
of  Cotton." 

If  the  child  workers  of  South  Carolina  could 
be  marshalled  by  bugle-call,  headed  with 
fife  and  drum,  and 
marched  through 
Commonwealth 
Avenue,outpastthe 
statue  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison, 
erected  by  sons  of 
the  men  who  drag- 
ged him  through  the 
streets  at  a  rope's 
end,  the  sight  would 
appal  the  heart  and 
drive  conviction 
home.  Imagine  an 
army  of  full  twen- 
ty thousand  pigmy 
bondsmen,  half  na- 
ked, weazened,  half 
starved,  yellow,  de- 
formed in  body,and 
all  with  drawn  faces 
that  show  spirits  too 
dead  to  weep,  too 
hopeless  to  laugh, 
too  pained  to  feel! 
Would  not  aristo- 
cratic Boston  lock 
her  doors,  bar  the 
shutters  and  turn  in 
shame  from  such  a 
sight?  I  know  the  sweat  shops  of  Hester 
Street,  New  York;  I  am  familiar  with  the 
vice,  depravity  and  degradation  of  the  White- 
chapel  District;  I  have  visited  the  Ghetto  of 
Venice;  I  know  the  lot  of  the  coal  miners  of 
Pennsylvania;  and  I  know  somewhat  of 
Siberian  atrocities;  but  for  misery,  woe  and 
hopeless  suffering,  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing to  equal  the  cotton  mill  slavery  of 
South  Carolina — this  in  my  own  America! 
CMiss  Jane  Addams  recently  wrote:  "A 
few  weeks  ago  I  stood  at  10.30  at  night  in  a 
mill  in  Columbia,  S.C.,  controlled  and  owned 
by  Northern  capital,  where  children  who 
did  not  know  their  own  ages  were  working 


from  6  p.  m.  to  6  a.  m.,  without  a  moment 
for  rest  or  food  or  a  single  cessation  of  the 
maddening  rack  of  the  machinery." 
For  the  adult  who  accepts  the  life  of  the 
mills,  I  have  not  a  word  to  say— it  is  his 
own  business.  My  plea  is  in  defense  of  the 
innocent — I  voice  the  cry  of  the  child  whose 
sob  is  drowned  in  the  thunder  of  whirring 
wheels.     The  ini- 


GREAT  sorrow  at  one 
stroke,  purchases  redemp- 
tion from  all  petty  troub- 
les; it  sinks  all  trivial  an- 
noyances into  nothingness 
and  grants  a  lifelong  freedom  from 
all  petty,  corroding  cares. 
CHe  who  influences  the  thought  of 
his  time,  influences  the  thought  of 
all  the  time  that  follows.  He  has 
made  his  impress  on  eternity. 
CA  pension  often  means  that  the 
receiver  shall  not  offend  nor  affront 
the  one  who  bestows  it.  Pensions 
are  usually  diplomatic  investments. 
CThere  are  two  qualities  that  are 
the  property  of  only  strong  men: 
confidence  and  resignation. 
CWhat  is  best  to-day  cannot  fail  to 
bring  the  best  results  to-morrow. 


quity  of  this  New 
Slavery  in  the  New 
South  has  grown  up 
out  of  conditions  for 
which  no  one  man, 
or  class  of  men,  it 
seems  is  amenable. 
The  interests  of  the 
cracker,  the  preach- 
er, the  overseer,  the 
superintendent,  the 
president,  and  the 
stockholders,  are  so 
involved  that  they 
cannot  see  the  truth 
— their  feet  are  en- 
snared, &  they  sink 
into  the  quicksands 
of  hypocrisy,  de- 
ceiving themselves 
with  specious  rea- 
sons. They  must  be 
educated,  and  the 
people  must  also  be 
educated. 

So  it  remains  for 
that  small,  yet  val- 
iant band  of  men  & 


women  in  theSouth, 
who  are  fighting  this  iniquity,  to  hold  fast  and 
not  leave  off  in  their  work  until  the  little  cap- 
tives are  set  free.  Right  will  surely  win.  And 
to  these  earnest  men  and  women  who  are 
braving  ostracism,  and  who  are  very  often 
scorned  in  their  own  homes,  who  have  noth- 
ing to  gain  but  the  consciousness  of  having 
done  right,  we  reach  friendly  hands  across 
the  miles,  and  out  of  the  silence  we  send 
them  blessings  and  bid  them  be  strong  and 
of  good  cheer.  Seemingly  they  fight  alone,  but 
thought,  hope  &  aspiration  are  never  solitary 
—they  are  not  alone,  for  the  great,  throb- 
bing Mother-heart  of  the  world,  has  but  to 
know  of  their  existence  to  be  one  with  them. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  40 


ET  OUT  OR  GET  IN 
LINE.  If  all  the  letters, 
messages  and  speeches 
of  Lincoln  were  destroy- 
ed, except  that  one  let- 
ter to  Hooker,  we  should  still  have 
a  pretty  good  index  to  the  heart  of 
the  Rail-Splitter. 
In  this  letter  we  see  that  Lincoln 
ruled  his  own  spirit;  and  we  also 
behold  the  fact  that  he  could  rule 
others.  The  letter  shows  frankness, 
kindliness,  wit,  tact,  wise  diplom- 
acy and  infinite  patience. 
Hooker  had  harshly  and  unjustly 
criticised  Lincoln,  his  Command- 
er-in-Chief, and  he  had  embarras- 
sed Burnside,  his  ranking  officer. 
But  Lincoln  waives  all  this  in  def- 
erence to  the  virtues  that  he  be- 
lieves Hooker  possesses,  and  pro- 
motes him  to  succeed  Burnside. 
In  other  words,  the  man  who  had 
been  wronged  promotes  the  man 
who  had  wronged  him,  over  the 
head  of  a  man  whom  the  promo- 
tee  had  wronged  and  for  whom 
the  promoter  had  a  warm  personal 
friendship. 

But  all  personal  considerations 
were  sunk  in  view  of  the  end  de- 
sired. Yet  it  was  necessary  that 
the  man  promoted  should  know 
the  truth,  and  Lincoln  told  it  to 
him  in  a  way  that  did  not  humili- 
ate nor  fire  to  foolish  anger;  but 
which  certainly  prevented  the  at- 
tack of  cerebral  elephantiasis  to 


which  Hooker  was  liable.*!  Here 
is  Lincoln's  letter: 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  January  26,  1863. 
Major-General  Hooker: 
General:— I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course  I  have 
done  this  upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be  suf- 
ficient reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you 
to  know  that  there  are  some  things  in  regard 
to  which  I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  you. 
C  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skilful 
soldier,  which  of  course  I  like. 
I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with 
vour  profession,  in  which  you  are  right. 
C  You  have  confidence  in  yourself,  which  is 
a  valuable  if  not  an  indispensable  quality. 
C.  You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reason- 
able bounds,  does  good  rather  than  harm; 
but  I  think  that  during  General  Burnside's 
command  of  the  army  you  have  taken  coun- 
sel of  your  ambition  and  thwarted  him  as 
much  as  you  could,  in  which  you  did  a  great 
wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most  meritor- 
ious and  honorable  brother  officer. 
I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it, 
of  your  recently  saying  that  both  the  army 
and  the  government  needed  a  dictator.  Of 
course  it  was  not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it, 
that  I  have  given  you  the  command.  Only 
those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set 
up  dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  mili- 
tary success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship. 
The  government  will  support  you  to  the  ut- 
most of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  com- 
manders. I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which 
you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of 
criticising  their  commander  and  withholding 
confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn  upon 
you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put 
it  down.  Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he 
were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good  out  of 
an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  It. 
And  now  beware  of  rashness;  beware  of 
rashness,  but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigi- 
lance go  forward  and  give  us  victories. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

One  point  in  this  letter  is  espec- 
ially worth  our  consideration,  for 


The  Ball  Room 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  40 


ET  OUT  OR  GET  IN 
LINE.  If  all  the  letters, 
messages  and  speeches 
of  Lincoln  were  destroy- 
ed, except  that  one  let- 
ter to  Hooker,  we  should  still  have 
a  pretty  good  index  to  the  heart  of 
the  Rail-Splitter. 
In  this  letter  we  see  that  Lincoln 
ruled  his  own  spirit;  and  we  also 
behold  the  fact  that  he  could  rule 
others.  The  letter  shows  frankness, 
kindliness,  wit,  tact,  wise  diplom- 
acy and  infinite  patience. 
Hooker  had  harshly  and  unjustly 
criticised  Lincoln,  his  Command- 
er-in-Chief, and  he  had  embarras- 
sed Burnside,  his  ranking  officer. 
But  Lincoln  waives  all  this  in  def- 
erence to  the  virtues  that  he  be- 
lieves Hooker  possesses,  and  pro- 
motes him  to  succeed  Burnside. 
In  other  words,  the  man  who  had 
been  wronged  promotes  the  man 
who  had  wronged  him,  over  the 
head  of  a  man  whom  the  promo- 
tee  had  wronged  and  for  whom 
the  promoter  had  a  warm  personal 
friendship. 

But  all  personal  considerations 
were  sunk  in  view  of  the  end  de- 
sired. Yet  it  was  necessary  that 
the  man  promoted  should  know 
the  truth,  and  Lincoln  told  it  to 
him  in  a  way  that  did  not  humili- 
ate nor  fire  to  foolish  anger;  but 
which  certainly  prevented  the  at-  One  point  in  this  letter  is  espec- 
tack  of  cerebral  elephantiasis  to  ially  worth  our  consideration,  for 


which  Hooker  was  liable.*!  Here 
is  Lincoln's  letter: 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  January  26,  1863. 
Major-General  Hooker: 
General:— I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course  I  have 
done  this  upon  what  appear  to  me  to  be  suf- 
ficient reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you 
to  know  that  there  are  some  things  in  regard 
to  which  I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  you. 
C.  I  believe  you  to  be  a  brave  and  skilful 
soldier,  which  of  course  I  like. 
I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with 
your  profession,  in  which  you  are  right. 
C  You  have  confidence  in  yourself,  which  is 
a  valuable  if  not  an  indispensable  quality. 
C  You  are  ambitious,  which,  within  reason- 
able bounds,  does  good  rather  than  harm; 
but  I  think  that  during  General  Burnside's 
command  of  the  army  you  have  taken  coun- 
sel of  your  ambition  and  thwarted  him  as 
much  as  you  could,  in  which  you  did  a  great 
wrong  to  the  country  and  to  a  most  meritor- 
ious and  honorable  brother  officer. 
I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  believe  it, 
of  your  recently  saying  that  both  the  army 
and  the  government  needed  a  dictator.  Of 
course  it  was  not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it, 
that  I  have  given  you  the  command.  Only 
those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set 
up  dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  mili- 
tary success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship. 
The  government  will  support  you  to  the  ut- 
most of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  com- 
manders. I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which 
you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of 
criticising  their  commander  and  withholding 
confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn  upon 
you.  I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put 
it  down.  Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he 
were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good  out  of 
an  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it. 
And  now  beware  of  rashness;  beware  of 
rashness,  but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigi- 
lance go  forward  and  give  us  victories. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


The  Ball  Room 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  41 


it  suggests  a  condition  that  springs 
up  like  deadly  nightshade  from  a 
poisonous  soil.  I  refer  to  the  habit 
of  sneering,  carping,  grumbling  at 
and  criticising  the  ones  above  us. 
CLThe  man  who  is  anybody  and 
who  does  anything  is  surely  going 
to  be  criticised,  vilified  and  mis- 
understood. This  is  a  part  of  the 
penalty  for  greatness,  and  every 
great  man  understands  it;  and  un- 
derstands, too,  that  it  is  no  proof 
of  greatness.  The  final  proof  of 
greatness  lies  in  being  able  to  en- 
dure contumely  without  resent- 
ment. Lincoln  did  not  resent  cri- 
ticism; he  knew  that  every  life 
must  be  its  own  excuse  for  being, 
but  look  how  he  calls  Hooker's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  dis- 
sension Hooker  has  sown  is  going 
to  return  and  plague  him!  "Neither 
you,  nor  Napoleon,  were  he  alive, 
could  get  any  good  out  of  an  army 
while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it." 
Hooker's  fault  falls  on  Hooker — 
others  suffer,  but  Hooker  suffers 
most  of  all. 

Not  long  ago  I  met  a  Yale  student 
home  on  a  vacation.  I  am  sure  he 
did  not  represent  the  true  Yale 
spirit,  for  he  was  full  of  criticism 
and  bitterness  toward  the  institu- 
tion. President  Hadley  came  in 
for  his  share,  and  I  was  supplied 
items,  facts,  data;  with  times  and 
places,  for  "a  peach  of  a  roast." 
C.  Very  soon  I  saw  the  trouble  was 


not  with  Yale,  the  trouble  was  with 
the  young  man.  He  had  mentally 
dwelt  on  some  trivial  slights  until 
he  had  got  so  out  of  harmony  with 
the  institution  that  he  had  lost  the 
power  to  derive  any  benefit  from 
it.  Yale  is  not  a  perfect  institution 
—  a  fact,  I  suppose,  that  President 
Hadley  and  most  Yale  men  are 
quite  willing  to  admit;  but  Yale 
does  supply  certain  advantages, 
and  it  depends  upon  the  students 
whether  they  will  avail  themselves 
of  these  advantages  or  not. 
If  you  are  a  student  in  a  college, 
seize  upon  the  good  that  is  there. 
You  get  good  by  giving  it.  You  gain 
by  giving — so  give  sympathy  and 
cheerful  loyalty  to  the  institution. 
Be  proud  of  it.  Stand  by  your 
teachers — they  are  doing  the  best 
they  can.  If  the  place  is  faulty, 
make  it  a  better  place  by  an  exam- 
ple of  cheerfully  doing  your  work 
every  day  the  best  you  can.  Mind 
your  own  business. 
If  the  concern  where  you  are  em- 
ployed is  all  wrong,  and  the  Old 
Man  a  curmudgeon,  it  may  be  well 
for  you  to  go  to  the  Old  Man  and 
confidentially,  quietly  and  kindly 
tell  him  that  he  is  a  curmudgeon. 
Explain  to  him  that  his  policy  is 
absurd  and  preposterous.  Then 
show  him  how  to  reform  his  ways, 
and  you  might  offer  to  take  charge 
of  the  concern  and  cleanse  it  of 
its  secret  faults. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  42 


Do  this,  or  if  for  any  reason  you 
should  prefer  not,  then  take  your 
choice  of  these:  Get  outy  or  get 
in  line.  You  have  got  to  do  one  or 
the  other — now  make  your  choice. 
If  you  work  for  a  man,  in  heaven's 
name,  work  for  him! 
If  he  pays  you  wages  that  supply 
you  your  bread  and  butter,  work 
for  him  —  speak  well  of  him,  think 
well  of  him,  stand  by  him  &standby 
the  institution  that  he  represents. 
ill  think  if  I  worked  for  a  man  I 
would  work  for  him.  I  would  not 
work  for  him  a  part  of  the  time,  and 
the  rest  of  the  time  work  against 
him.  I  would  give  an  undivided 
service  or  none. 

If  put  to  the  pinch,anounce  of  loyal- 
ty is  worth  a  pound  of  cleverness. 
C,  If  you  must  vilify,  condemn  and 
eternally  disparage,  why,  resign 
your  position,  and  when  you  are 
outside,  damn  to  your  heart's  con- 
tent. But,  I  pray  you,  so  long  as 
you  are  a  part  of  an  institution,  do 
not  condemn  it.  Not  that  you  will 
injure  the  institution  —  not  that — 
but  when  you  disparage  the  con- 
cern of  which  you  are  a  part,  you 
disparage  yourself. 
More  than  that,  you  are  loosening 
the  tendrils  that  hold  you  to  the 
institution,  and  the  first  high  wind 
that  comes  along,  you  will  be  up- 
rooted and  blown  away  in  the  bliz- 
zard's track — and  probably  you 
will  never  know  why.  The  letter 


only  says,  "Times  are  dull  and  we 
regret  there  is  not  enough  work," 
et  cetera. 

Everywhere  you  find  those  out-of- 
a-job  fellows.  Talk  with  them  and 
you  will  usually  find  that  they  are 
full  of  railing,  bitterness  and  con- 
demnation. That  was  the  trouble — 
through  a  spirit  of  fault-finding 
they  got  themselves  swung  around 
so  they  blocked  the  channel,  and 
had  to  be  dynamited.  They  were 
out  of  harmony  with  the  concern, 
and  no  longer  being  a  help  they 
had  to  be  removed.  Every  employer 
is  constantly  looking  for  people 
who  can  help  him;  naturally  he  is 
on  the  lookout  among  his  employ- 
ees for  those  who  do  not  help,  and 
everything  and  everybody  that  is  a 
hindrance  has  to  go.  This  is  the 
law  of  trade  —  do  not  find  fault 
with  it;  it  is  founded  on  Nature. 
The  reward  is  only  for  the  man 
that  helps,  and  in  order  to  help 
you  must  have  sympathy. 
You  cannot  help  the  Old  Man  so 
long  as  you  are  explaining  in  un- 
dertone and  whisper,  by  gesture 
and  suggestion,  by  thought  and 
mental  attitude,  that  he  is  a  cur- 
mudgeon and  his  system  is  dead 
wrong.  You  are  not  necessarily 
menacing  him  by  stirring  up  dis- 
content and  warming  envy  into 
strife,  but  you  are  doing  this:  You 
are  getting  yourself  upon  a  well 
greased  chute  that  will  give  you  a 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  43 


quick  ride  to  hades.  <L  When  you 
say  to  other  employees  that  the 
Old  Man  is  a  curmudgeon,  you 
reveal  the  fact  that  you  are  one; 
and  when  you  tell  that  the  policy 
of  the  institution  is  "rotten,"  you 
surely  show  that  yours  is. 
Hooker  got  his  promotion  even  in 
spite  of  his  failings;  but  the  chances 
are  that  your  employer  does  not 
have  the  love  that  Lincoln  had — 
the  love  that  suffereth  long  and  is 
kind.  But  even  Lincoln  could  not 
protect  Hooker  forever.  Hooker 
failed  to  do  the  work,  and  Lincoln 
had  to  try  some  one  else.  So  there 
came  a  time  when  Hooker  was 
superseded  by  a  Silent  Man,  who 
ruled  his  own  spirit,  took  the  cities. 
He  minded  his  own  business,  and 
did  the  work  that  no  man  ever  can 
do  unless  he  gives  absolute  loyal- 
ty, perfect  confidence  and  untir- 
ing devotion. 

Let  us  mind  our  own  business, 
and  work  for  self  by  working  for 
the  good  of  All. 

HE  JEWISH  METH- 
OD OF  TRAINING 
CHILDREN.  Asa  rule 
I  have  noticed  that  Jews 
treat  their  wives,  child- 
ren and  aged  parents  with  a  deal 
more  tenderness  and  consideration 
than  we  Hittites.  I  wonder  if  this 
is  a  fact,  or  is  it  a  mere  coincidence 
in  my  experience?  I  have  had  a 


good  deal  to  do  with  the  Chosen, 
but  I  never  yet  heard  one  of  them 
refer  to  his  father  as  the  Old  Gent; 
and  I  have  noticed,  very  often,  in 
Jewish  families  that  the  grandfa- 
ther or  grandmother  was  the  lov- 
ing equal  of  the  children  and  the 
pride  and  pet  of  the  household. 
CA  full-grown  Jew  might  put  up 
a  good  company  bluff,  but  a  child 
is  no  hypocrite;  and  mark  you  this, 
the  child  gets  its  cue  for  manners 
and  behavior  from  its  parents.  If 
the  mother  has  little  patience  the 
child  is  a  little  worse,  and  if  the 
father  is  a  boor  in  his  home  his 
boys  are  hoodlums.  Jewish  child- 
ren respect  their  parents  and  grand- 
parents. They  respect  old  age  and 
well  doing,  and  the  reason  is,  I 
think,  because  the  Jew,  as  a  rule, 
makes  a  companion  of  his  child. 
C,I  do  not  believe  that  you  can 
teach  a  child  under  fourteen  any- 
thing by  admonition;  you  teach  him, 
however,  most  emphatically,  by 
example.  If  you  scold  a  child  you 
only  add  to  his  vocabulary,  and  he 
visits  on  doll  or  playfellow  your 
language  and  manner. 
The  Jew  may  hang  on  to  a  dollar 
when  dealing  with  the  Enemy,  but 
he  does  not  dole  out  pittances  to 
his  wife,  alternately  humor  and 
cuff  his  children,  nor  request,  by 
his  manner,  that  elderly  people 
who  are  not  up-to-date  shall  get 
off  the  face  of  the  earth  r^»^^> 


C  O  N  T  EMPLATIOiXS 


Page  44 


■^ATIENCE  AND  ENDURANCE. 

i  5vJ  Over  the  desk  of  William  Morris  there 
used  to  hang  a  motto,  the  words  carved 
on  wood ;  and  the  words  were  these :  He  that 
Endureth  unto  the  End  shall  be  Saved. 
CI  Patience  — that  is  the  theme! 
I  am  not  sure  that  William  Morris  was  the 
most  patient  man  I  ever  saw;  had  he  been 
patient  by  nature  he 


would  never  have 
thought  to  have  that 
sign  constantly  be- 
fore him. 

But  it  is  well  to  real- 
ize that  it  is  the  pa- 
tient man  who  wins. 
To  do  your  work 
and  not  be  anxious 
about  the  result,  is 
wisdom  of  the  high- 
est order.  This  does 
not  mean  that  you 
are  to  sell  yourself 
as  a  slave.  If  the 
position  you  now 
have  does  not  give 
you  an  opportunity 
to  grow,  and  you 
should  know  of  a 
better  place,  why  go 
to  the  better  place, 
by  all  means.  The 
point  I  make  is  sim- 
ply this:  if  you  care 
to  remain  in  a  place 
you  can  never  bet- 
ter your  position  by 
striking  for  higher 
wages  or  favors  of  any  kind.  <L  The  em- 
ployee who  drives  a  sharp  bargain  and  is 
fearful  that  he  will  not  get  all  he  earns,  never 
will.  There  are  men  who  are  set  on  a  hair 
trigger  —  always  ready  to  make  demands 
when  there  is  a  rush  of  work,  and  who 
threaten  to  walk  out  if  their  demands  are 
not  acceded  to. 

The  demands  may  be  acceded  to,  but  this 
kind  of  help  is  always  marked  on  the  time- 
book  for  dismissal  when  work  gets  scarce 
and  business  dull. 

Such  men  are  out  of  employment  about  half 
the  time,  and  the  curious  part  of  it  is,  they 
never  know  why. 


As  a  matter  of  pure  worldly  wisdom  — just 
cold-blooded  expediency  —  if  I  were  an  em- 
ployee I  would  never  mention  wages.  I 
would  focus  right  on  my  work  and  do  it. 
<i  The  man  that  endures  is  the  man  that  wins. 
I  would  never  harass  my  employer  by  inop- 
portune propositions  —  I  would  give  him 
peace,  and  I  would  lighten  his  burden.  Per- 
sonally Iwould  nev- 

ENAN  suggests  that  one 
reason  why  religion  re- 


mains on  such  a  material 
plane  for  many  is  because 
they  have  never  known  a 
great  and  vitalizing  love:  a  love 
where  intellect,  spirit  and  sex  finds 
its  perfect  mate. 

11  People  who  live  all  the  year  in 
the  quiet  valleys  where  the  roses 
continually  bloom,  are  not  neces- 
sarily happy. 

C  If  you  have  thoughts  and  honest- 
ly speak  your  mind,  Golgotha  for 
you  is  not  far  away. 
Q  In  man's  fearsome  endeavor  to 
make  himself  secure  for  another 
world,  he  has  neglected  this. 
C  We  believe  a  thing  first  and  skir- 
mish for  our  proofs  afterward,^. 


er  be  in  evidence, 
unless  it  were  posi- 
tively necessary— 
my  work  should  tell 
its  own  story. 
The  cheerful  work- 
er who  goes  ahead 
and  makes  himself 
a  necessity  to  the 
business  and  never 
increases  the  bur- 
den of  his  superiors 
—will  sooner  or  la- 
ter get  all  that  is  his 
due,  and  more.  He 
will  not  only  get  pay 
for  his  work,  but  he 
will  get  a  bonus  for 
his  patience,  &  an- 
other for  his  good 
cheer. 

Themanwhomakes 
a  strike  to  have  his 
wages  raised  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen 
dollars  a  week,  may 
get  the  raise,  and 
then  his  wages  will 
stay  there.  Had  he 
kept  quiet  and  just  been  intent  on  mak- 
ing himself  a  five-thousand-dollar  man,  he 
might  have  gravitated  straight  to  a  five-thous- 
and-dollar desk. 

I  would  not  risk  spoiling  my  chances  for  a 
big  promotion  by  asking  for  a  little  one.  And 
it  is  but  trite  truism  to  say  that  no  man  ever 
received  a  big  promotion  because  he  de- 
manded it — he  got  it  because  he  could  fill 
the  position,  and  for  no  other  reason. 
Ask  the  man  who  receives  a  ten-thousand- 
dollar-a-year  salary  how  he  managed  to  bring 
it  about,  and  he  will  tell  you  he  just  simply 
did  his  work  as  well  as  he  could.  Never  did 
such  a  man  go  on  a  strike.  The  most  success- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  45 


ful  strike  is  a  defeat;  and  had  this  man  been 
a  striker  by  nature,  sudden  and  quick  in 
quarrel,  jealous  of  his  rights,  things  would 
have  conspired  to  keep  him  down  and  under. 
I  do  not  care  how  clever  he  may  be  or  how 
well  educated,  his  salary  would  have  been 
eighteen  a  week  at  the  farthest,  with  a  very 
tenuous  hold  on  his  job.  HHq  that  endureth 
unto  the  end  shall 
be  saved. 

At  hotels  the  man 
that  complains  is  the 
man  against  whom 
the  servants  are  al- 
ways in  league;  and 
the  man  who  com- 
plains most  is  the 
man  who  has  the 
least  at  home. 
If  you  are  defamed, 
let  time  vindicate 
you  —  silence  is  a 
thousand  times  bet- 
ter than  to  explain. 
C  Explanations  do 
not  explain. 
Let  your  life  be  its 
own  excuse  for  be- 
ing—  cease  all  ex- 
planations and  all 
apologies,  and  just 
live  your  life. 
By  minding  your 
own  business,  you 
give  other  folks  an 
opportunity  to  mind 
theirs;  and  depend 
upon  it,  the  great 
souls  will  appreciate  you  for  this  very  thing. 
C I  am  not  sure  that  absolute,  perfect  justice 
comes  to  everybody  in  this  world;  but  I  do 
know  that  the  best  way  to  get  justice  is  not 
to  be  too  anxious  about  it.  As  love  goes  to 
those  who  do  not  lie  in  wait  for  it,  so  does 
the  big  reward  gravitate  to  the  patient  man. 
HHe  that  Endureth  unto  the  End  shall 
be  Saved. 

iMBOUT  DR.  R.  M.  BUCKE  AND 
|§f  WHAT  HE  STOOD  FOR.  Said  Walt 
ifiM  Whitman: 

My  science-friend,  my  noblest  woman- 
friend, 


(Now  buried  in  an  English  grave — and  this 

a  memory-leaf  for  her  dear  sake,) 
Ended  our  talk — "The  sum,  concluding  all 
we  know  of  old  or  modern  learning, 
intuitions  deep, 
Of  all  Geologies — Histories — of  all  Astron- 
omy—  of  Evolution,  Metaphysics  all. 
Is,  that  we  are  all  onward,  onward,  speeding 
slowly,surely  bet- 

E  grope  our  way  through 
life.  Nature's  first  thought 
is  for  reproduction  of  the 
species:  she  has  so  over- 
loaded physical  passion 
and  women  marry  when 


that  men 

the  blood  is  warm  and  intellect  cal 
low.  Girls  marry  for  life  the  first 
man  that  offers  and  forever  put  be- 
hind them  the  possibility  of  a  love 
that  would  enable  them  to  lift  up 
their  eyes  to  the  hills  from  whence 
cometh  their  strength. 
C  Man  has  tried  to  make  peace  with 
the  skies  instead  of  making  peace 
with  his  neighbor. 
C  It  makes  but  very  little  difference 
where  genius  is  housed. 
il  By  taking  thought  you  can  add 
cubits  to  your  stature 


tenng, 
Life,  life  an  endless 
march,  an  endless 
army,(nohalt,but 
it  is  duly  over,) 
The  world,  the  race, 
the  soul — in  space 
and  time  the  uni- 
verses, 
All  bound  as  is  be- 
fitting each  —  all 
surelygoingsome- 
where." 


Yes,  we  are  going 
Somewhere;  we  are 
moving,  moving  for- 
ward. 

The  world  is  getting 
better. 

That  hardly  seems 
possible,  some  may 
say,  when  we  re- 
call events  that  have 
transpired  the  last 
two  years  in  South 
Africa,  and  in  the 
Philipines.  But  that 
achill  of  horror  runs 
over  Christendom  at  the  mention  of  these 
events,  proves  the  proposition  as  first  stated 
— if  we  were  indifferent,  the  case  would  be 
hopeless. 

But  beside  this  there  are  substantial  proofs 
that  an  Era  of  Kindness  and  Common-sense 
is  being  ushered  in.  Good-will  has  always 
existed,  but  it  has  been  isolated,  detached 
and  had  to  hide  itself  for  fear  of  being  laughed 
into  nothingness  or  stamped  into  death.  Now 
the  detached  pickets  have  come  together, 
touched  hands,  and  a  cordon  of  kindness 
circles  the  globe. 

This  is  proven  by  our  treatment  of  the  in- 
sane. Other  things  bearing  on  the  same  point 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  46 


might  be  mentioned,  but  let  this  suffice  for 
the  present. 

Hippocrates,  who  lived  four  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  raised  medicine  from  a  super- 
stitious rite  to  a  learned  profession.  He 
treated  the  sick  by  regulating  their  diet,  and 
insisting  on  sunshine,  cleanliness  and  cheer- 
ful surroundings.  Insanity,  he  declared,  was 
caused  by  imperfect 


nutrition:  and  Hip- 
pocrates,itwas,who 
first  set  forth  the 
maxim  that  to  have 
a  sound  mind  you 
must  have  a  sound 
body.  Mens  sana  in 
coropore  sano,  was 
borrowed  from  the 
Greeks. 

Hippocrates  died  & 
his  genius  and  his 
knowledge  seemed 
to  die  with  him.  The 
old  superstition  that 
insane  people  were 
possessed  by  devils 
came  back,  and  in- 
cantations, with  se- 
vere tests  such  as 
that  of  walking  on 
red-hot  stones,  be- 
came again  the  fa- 
shion and  vogue. 
A  great  man's  chil- 
dren may  inherit 
none  of  his  genius, 
but  wait  a  genera- 
tion or  so,  and  the 
divine  spark  will  again  flare  up  into  life. 
CI  Galen,  who  lived  six  hundred  years  after 
Hippocrates,  called  a  halt  on  incantations, 
and  voiced  the  truths  that  Hippocrates  had 
set  forth,  which  truths  we  discovered  for 
ourselves  yesterday. 

From  Galen's  time  for  sixteen  hundred  years 
the  world  seemed  to  sleep. 
In  1750  Benjamin  Franklin  succeeded  in 
founding  the  first  Insane  Asylum  in  Amer- 
ica. Up  to  this  time  there  were  private  Mad- 
houses, where  insane  people  were  confined, 
usually  chained  by  the  leg  to  the  wall,  sleep- 
ing in  straw  and  fed  out  of  wooden  dishes 
that  were  passed  to  them  from  a  safe  dis- 


tance. CThe  Salem  Idea  had  subsided  into 
the  simple  belief  that  insane  people  were 
possessed  of  evil  spirits  and  were  being  pun- 
ished for  secret  sins.  Society  washed  its 
hands  of  the  affair  by  locking  the  culprits  up 
in  dungeons  or  chaining  them  in  rows,  well 
out  of  sight  of  the  rest  of  mankind. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  the  freethinker,  knew 
the  iniquity  of  treat- 

F  everything  in  this  world 


happens  because  some- 
thing else  happened  a 
thousand  years  ago  or 
yesterday,  and  the  result 
could  not  possibly  be  different  from 
what  it  is,  why  besiege  Heaven  with 
prayer? 

CMan  does  what  he  does  because 
he  thinks  for  the  moment  it  is  the 
best  thing  to  do. 

CArt  is  not  a  thing  separate  and 
apart  —  art  is  only  the  beautiful  way 
of  doing  things. 

CIt  is  only  in  prosperity  that  we 
throw  our  friends  overboard. 
CMen  are  ever  forsaking  fortune 
when  she  is  about  to  smile. 
il  To  satisfy  the  God  within  is  the 
poet's  prayer 


ing  the  insane  as  if 
they  were  criminals 
and  tried  to  remedy 
it,  but  the  stress  of 
political  affairs  si- 
lenced him  ere  he 
could  fire  a  shot  that 
would  be  heard  the 
world  over. 
The  year  1792  is  a 
memorable  one  in 
the  history  of  the 
treatment  of  the  in- 
sane, for  in  thatyear 
Dr.  Pinel  in  France 
challenged  the  en- 
tire medical  profes- 
sion by  announcing 
that  he  was  going  to 
unchain  fifty  mani- 
acs, justas  they  hap- 
pened to  come,  and 
live  with  them  with- 
out the  use  of  force. 
CL  And  he  did— and 
the  world  looked  on 
aghast. 

In  the  year  1801  Dr. 


Pinel  was  visiting  a 
certain  Asylum  near  Paris,  and  seeing  about 
one-third  of  the  patients  had  lost  a  hand,  and 
in  some  cases  both  hands  and  a  foot,  he 
asked  the  cause  of  this  mutilation. 
"Oh,"  was  the  matter-of-fact  reply,  "you 
see  they  pulled  so  on  the  ropes  we  had  'em 
tied  with,  that  it  made  a  ligature,  cut  off  cir- 
culation in  their  hands,  and  then  as  gangrene 
set  in,  we  had  to  amputate  the  parts  to  save 
the  poor  devils'  lives." 
About  the  same  time  Elizabeth  Fry  and  John 
Howard,  in  England,  had  sent  glimmering 
rays  of  light  through  the  gloom  of  ignorance 
by  demanding  that  the  word  "Madhouse" 
should  be  abandoned,  and  that  the  insane 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  47 


should  be  treated  simply  as  if  they  were  ill. 
C,At  Worcester,  England,  Mrs.  Fry  insisted 
that  naked  women  chained  in  stone  cells 
should  be  unfettered,  clothed  and  treated 
like  human  beings.  At  the  same  time  she  es- 
tablished a  dining-room  at  the  Worcester 
Asylum  and  had  certain  of  the  patients  come 
and  sit  at  meat  with  her  as  invited  guests. 
Before  this  no  pa-   

RAYER  is  an  emotional 


tient  had  ever  been 
trusted  with  a  knife, 
fork,  metal  spoon, 
or  earthen  dish  — 
the  idea  being  prev- 
alent that  the  pris- 
oner would  surely 
swallow  the  fork, 
stab  some  one  with 
the  spoon,  and  end 
by  severing  his  jug- 
ular with  a  fragment 
of  the  plate. 
Mrs.  Fry  dismissed 
the  armed  guards 
and  proved  to  the 
astonished  officials 
that  a  good  many 
insane  people  were 
not  crazy — surely 
not  all  of  the  time. 
Many  of  them,  she 
showed,  had  impul- 
ses and  moods  when 
they  were  kind,  gen- 
erous, orderly;  and 
could  be  made  help- 
ful— and  their  bad 
times  often  bridged 
by  love.  CL  Instead  of  feeding  them  all  on 
chunks  of  meat  and  soggy  bread,  she  paid 
special  attention  to  their  diet,  and  continued 
the  thought  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen,  al- 
though, as  far  as  I  can  find,  she  never  heard 
of  either. 

Matters  followed  a  zigzag  road,  with  pro- 
gress all  the  time,  although  sometimes  slow, 
until  about  the  year  1880,  when  there  came  a 
great  burst  of  light,  and  Dr.  Bucke  appeared. 
CLThe  Asylum  for  the  Insane  at  London, 
Ontario,  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr. 
R.  M.  Bucke,  has  in  several  important  re- 
spects set  the  medical  world  an  example.  It 
has  shown  what  kindness,  trustfulness  and 


work  can  do  in  ministering  to  a  mind  dis- 
eased, plucking  from  memory  its  rooted 
sorrow. 

It  would  be  manifestly  unfair  to  carry  the 
idea  that  what  is  known  to  Dr.  Bucke  is  not 
known  elsewhere.  Truth  is  in  the  air  and 
belongs  to  all  who  can  appropriate  it:  every 
great  invention  has  been  worked  out  by  sev- 
eral men,  in  differ- 


exercise;  an  endeavor  to 
bring  the  will  into  a  state 
of  harmony  with  the  Di- 
vine Will;  a  rest  and  com- 
posure that  gives  strength  by  putting 
us  in  position  to  partake  of  the 
strength  of  the  Universal, 
d  We  do  what  we  do  and  are  what 
we  are  on  account  of  impulses  given 
us  by  previous  training,  previous 
acts  or  conditions  under  which  we 
live  and  have  lived. 
CTo  no  woman  can  love  mean  so 
much  as  to  one  who  is  aware  that 
she  is  physically  deficient. 
CAn  act  is  only  a  crystallized 
thought. 

CBy  right  thinking  does  the  race 


ent  parts  of  the  earth 
at  about  the  same 
time:  and  the  gen- 
eral policy  that  Dr. 
Bucke  follows  in  the 
treatment  of  his  pa- 
tients is  world-pro- 
perty, like  the  Kin- 
dergarten Idea,  and 
belongs  everywhere 
to  the  men  who  think 
and  the  women  who 
feel. 

Dr.  Bucke  has  no 
secrets.  Anything  he 
knows  is  yours  for 
the  asking — but  nei- 
ther Dr.  Bucke,  nor 
any  one  else,  can 
impart  to  you  any- 
thing you  do  not  al- 
ready know. 
Dr.Bucke  called  his 
attendants  together 
and  said,  "Let  us 
never  again  use  any 
physical  restraint 
with  our  patients; 


we  will  do  away  with 
all  handcuffs,  straps  and  straight  jackets; 
never  again  will  we  meet  violence  with  vio- 
lence; if  we  are  struck  we  will  never  strike 
back — we  will  rule  by  kindness:  we  will 
master  by  mind." 

And  for  twenty  years  this  has  been  the  poli- 
cy—kindness, patience,  cheerfulness,  trust- 
fulness, work. 

And  the  scientific  world  has  to  a  great  degree 
adopted  the  policy. 

The  Asylum  at  London  has  a  system  of  grad- 
uation, and  a  plan  of  reward  for  well  doing. 
CViolent  patients  and  those  with  a  mania 
for  destroying  things,  are  placed  in  a  ward 
where  there  is  no  furniture  or  anything  that 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  48 


can  be  destroyed.  This  ward  is  simply  a 
long,  wide  hallway  with  rooms  opening  off. 
Every  patient  has  a  room  of  his  own.  This 
room  contains  an  iron  bed  with  springs,  mat- 
tress, blankets,  sheets  and  pillow.  If  a  patient 
destroys  his  bedding  it  is  taken  away  from 
him,  but  only  for  a  few  hours  at  a  time.  The 
whole  place  is  light,  in  fact,  flooded  with 
sunshine  and  it  is 
scrupulously  clean. 
The  suggestion  of 
restraint  is  removed 
just  as  much  as  pos- 
sible— all  have  the 
free  run  and  use  of 
the  hallway.  Every 
patient  is  regarded 
as  a  sick  man;  each 
is  under  the  care  of 
a  physician  who  ex- 
amines him  daily  & 
keeps  a  record  of 
the  case.  Special  at- 
tention is  paid  to  his 
diet,  vegetables  and 
fruitpredominating. 
Intoxicants  are  ex- 
cluded entirely,  but 
those  who  are  ac- 
customed to  using 
tobacco  are  allowed 
the  weed  in  moder- 
ate quantities. 
In  summer  the  in- 
mates of  this  "vio- 
lent ward,"  which 
we  will  call  Ward  A, 
are  all  taken  out  into 
a  large,  pleasant  yard,  and  spend  the  day 
there.  No  exception  is  made  to  the  rule,  un- 
less a  patient  is  so  ill  he  cannot  leave  his  bed. 
If  a  patient  is  violent,  they  let  him  work  it  off 
—  it  will  not  last  long.  Unless  you  meet  vio- 
lence with  violence  he  soon  gets  enough  of 
it.  The  insane  man  is  apt  to  be  a  supreme 
egotist,  and  a  good  way  to  punish  him  is  to 
pay  no  attention  to  him. 
Beginning  in  Ward  A  the  plan  is  adopted  of 
trying  to  get  a  patient  to  forget  himself  and 
become  interested  in  others.  Thus  one  pa- 
tient is  asked  to  help  to  take  care  of  some  one 
else.  If  he  reveals  a  disposition  to  be  useful, 
even  in  the  most  trivial  way,  his  case  is 


looked  upon  as  hopeful  and  he  is  promoted 

to  Ward  B. 

Here  the  plan  of  the  rooms  is  the  same  as  in 
Ward  A,  only  there  are  pictures  on  the  walls, 
chairs  instead  of  benches,  tables  with  books 
and  magazines,  and  usually  a  piano.  The 
women  and  men  are  in  separate  wards,  but 
the  scheme  of  getting  the  patients  to  work  is 
the  same.  In  the  wo- 
man's department, 
for  instance — Ward 
B,  I  noticed  a  young 
woman-patient  was 
combing  the  hair  of 
another  that  seemed 
to  be  somewhat  un- 
easy &  worrisome. 
"She  does  not  ap- 
preciate your  kind- 
ness," I  said  to  wo- 
man Number  One. 
CI"  Oh,"  was  the 
answer,  "one  does 
not  expect  any  gra- 
titude from  the  poor 
creatures.  We  never 
resent  anything,  no 
matter  what  it  is." 
CiWoman  Number 
One,  a  patient  her- 
self, yet  was  full  of 
the  Master  Spirit  of 
the  place — she  must 
be  helpful  and  she 
must  be  patient. 
Ward  C  differs  only 
from  Ward  B  in  that 
there  are  curtains  at 
the  windows,  more  pictures  on  the  walls, 
rugs  on  the  floor,  and  each  patient's  bedroom 
has  a  mirror,  wash-bowl,  soap  dish,  hair- 
brush, comb,  etc.,  and  many  little  things  in 
way  of  decoration.  Some  of  these  rooms  with 
their  photographs  on  the  walls  looked  not 
unlike  students'  rooms  at  Colleges— so  or- 
derly, well  kept,  and  full  of  individuality 
they  were. 

In  Ward  C  the  inmates,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, come  and  go  at  will.  If  they  run  away 
they  usually  come  back  of  their  own  account. 
Dr.  Bucke  told  me  that  in  twenty-six  years 
at  this  Asylum  he  had  never  known  a  patient 
that  ran  away  to  injure  either  himself  or  any 


GOOD  lie  for  its  own 
sake  is  ever  pleasing  to 
honest  men;  we  also  re- 
spect a  discreet  silence, 
but  a  patched  up,  care- 
fully explained  record  will  not  do. 
And  when  such  small  men  as  "Mr. 
S.  Pepys"  and  James  Boswell  can 
write  immortal  books,  the  moral  for 
the  rest  of  us  is  that  a  little  honesty 
in  literature  is  not  a  dangerous  thing. 
C I  appeal  to  those  who  have  tried 
both  plans,  whether  it  is  not  easier 
to  tell  the  truth  than  concoct  a  lie. 
And  I  assiduously  maintain  that  if 
the  case  is  to  be  tried  by  a  jury  of 
Discerning  Persons,  that  the  shock- 
ing facts  will  serve  the  end  far  bet- 
ter than  a  half-truth. 
C  Love  is  the  great  enlightener 


The  Phalanstery  Dining  Room 


Reception  Room  in  Chapel 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  49 


one  else.  To  make  surveillance  too  rigid  is  a 
disadvantage  in  many  ways;  to  be  deceived 
by  a  man  is  not  so  bad  as  to  distrust  him  — 
and  this  applies  even  to  insane  people. 
Trust — that  is  it — trust  is  the  dominant  note 
in  that  whole  institution. 
Once  a  patient  escaped  from  Ward  A.  The 
man  had  recently  arrived  and  was  said  to  be 
very  dangerous.  A 


women,  the  driver,  and  the  man  on  the  seat 
beside  him  are  patients." 
One  of  the  women  was  in  tears,  and  the 
white-aproned  nurse  looked  weepy. 
"Ah,"  I  said,  "poor  things,  they  have  just 
arrived." 

"No,"  said  the  Doctor,  "the  woman  who  is 
crying  we  discharged  cured.  The  others  just 
rvirr    -i.  •         |.«       came  down  to  see 

OVE,  that  curious  life- 
stuff,  which  holds  with- 
in itself  the  spore  of  all 
mystic  possibilities:  that 
makes  alive  dull  wits,  gives 
the  coward  heart  and  warms  into 


being  the  sodden  senses;  that  gives 
joy  and  gratitude,  and  rest  and  hope 
and  peace;  shall  we  not  call  thee 
Divine?  &&&&>&&>&&>&&>&&i>&3&> 


search  was  made, 
but  no  trace  could 
be  found  of  the  run- 
away. They  wrote 
to  his  friends,  but 
he  had  not  reached 
them. 

About  three  months 
afterward  one  of  the 
workers  in  the  Asy- 
lum found  the  man 
working  for  a  farm- 
er ten  miles  away. 
The  man  had  hired 
out  and  was  doing  good  service,  living  in  the 
farmer's  household.  The  family  were  enter- 
taining a  lunatic,  unawares.  The  employee 
said  nothing,  but  went  home  fast  to  report  to 
Dr.  Bucke,  so  the  runaway  could  be  seized. 
C  "  Leave  him  alone,"  said  Dr.  Bucke.  "  He 
is  getting  better  treatment  than  we  can  give 
him  here." 

The  man  worked  a  year  for  the  farmer,  and 
having  saved  a  hundred  dollars,  bought  him- 
self a  new  outfit  of  clothes  and  a  ticket  for 
Colorado,  and  disappeared. 
Dr.  Bucke  tells  this  story  with  a  sly  twinkle, 
to  illustrate  what  scientific  treatment  rightly 
applied  will  do  for  an  insane  man. 
Ward  D  is  made  up  of  detached  cottages, 
scattered  around  over  the  beautiful  farm. 
Here  the  patients  live  simply  as  families. 
There  is  no  restraint  of  any  kind.  They  keep 
regular  hours,  work,  and  have  many  em- 
ployments—  each  according  to  his  need. 
CWhen  patients  are  discharged  from  this 
ward  they  sometimes  decline  to  go;  and 
when  they  do  go  it  is  with  much  handshak- 
ing, fond  adieus  and  the  usual  feminine  tears. 
C  I  happened  to  witness  one  such  scene  at 
the  London  railway  station.  Four  women  were 
in  the  carriage,  two  men  were  on  the  box. 
C  "They  are  all  our  folks,"  said  Dr.  Bucke 
to  me.    One  is  a  nurse,  the  other  three 


her  off,  and  bid  her 
good-bye." 
While  the  general 
policy  of  conduct- 
ing hospitals  for  the 
insane  is  about  the 
same  everywhere, 
still  the  executive 
ability  shown  in  the 
management  varies 
greatly,  of  course. 
A  great  success  in 
anything  is  possible 
only  where  there  is 
one-man  power.  The  Canadian  Government 
has  shown  rare  wisdom  in  leaving  Dr.  Bucke 
alone — he  has  not  been  hampered  by  petty 
officialism,  and  thus  he  has  been  able  to 
work  out  his  own  ideas. 
In  several  respects  I  believe  the  asylum  at 
London  is  in  advance  of  any  similar  institu- 
tion in  the  United  States — three  of  which 
items  might  be  named. 

1 —  Better  housing  at  less  expense  per  capita. 
The  buildings  at  London  represent  an  outlay 
of  $400.00  for  each  inmate;  while  in  New 
York  State  the  rate  at  several  institutions  is 
over  $3,000.00  for  each  inmate.  Imagine  a 
house  costing  $3,000.00  in  which  one  person 
lives,  and  you  get  a  condition  far  beyond 
what  the  average  man  possesses.  A  simpler 
condition — less  machinery  in  the  business 
of  life  is  desirable.  There  is  no  good  reason 
for  housing  insane  folks  in  palaces. 

2 —  The  attendants,  including  nurses  &  phy- 
sicians, at  London  are  in  the  ratio  of  one  to 
each  fifteen  patients.  In  many  asylums  they 
are  one  to  seven. 

3 —  The  useful  labor  performed  by  the  pa- 
tients, I  believe,  exceeds  in  value  the  labor 
done  by  patients  in  any  similar  institution  in 
the  world— Switzerland  excepted.  The  in- 
dustries are  intensified  farming,  horticulture, 
weaving,  carpentry,  stock  raising  and  build- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  50 


absence,  you  are  not  dead  and  not  really  ab- 
sent, but  alive  and  well  and  not  far  from  me 
this  moment.  If  I  have  been  permitted — no, 
not  to  enter,  but  through  the  narrow  aper- 
ture of  a  scarcely  opened  door,  to  glance 
one  instant  into  that  other  divine  world,  it 
was  surely  that  I  might  thereby  be  enabled 
to  live  through  the  receipt  of  those  lightning- 

O,  .     «         ,       flashed  words  from 
love  the  plain,  homely, 

common,  simple  things  of 
earth,  of  these  to  sing;  to 
make  the  familiar  beauti- 
ful and  the  commonplace 
enchanting;  to  cause  each  bush  to 
burn  with  the  actual  presence  of 
God,  this  is  the  poet's  office. 
C  If  love  is  life,  and  hate  is  death, 


how  can  spite  benefit? 


ing.  The  general  work  of  the  place,  such  as 
cooking,  sewing,  laundering,  and  keeping 
the  place  in  order,  is  for  the  most  part  done 
by  patients — this  accounts  for  the  small  num- 
ber of  paid  employees  and  attendants.  The 
prime  object  of  this  economy  is  not  to  save 
money,  but  is  a  hygienic  measure  and  in  the 
interest— physical  and  mental— of  the  patient 
himself.tli  ''When 
thee  builds  a  prison 
thee  would  better 
build  it  with  the 
thought  in  mind  that 
thee  or  thy  children 
may  occupy  the 
cells,"  said  Eliza- 
beth Fry  to  the  King 
of  France. 
Most  of  the  build- 
ings at  the  London 
asylum  were  built 
under  the  personal 
supervision  of  Dr. 
Bucke  himself;  and  in  the  arrangement,  as 
well  as  in  the  entire  conduct  of  the  institu- 
tion, he  has  worked  as  if  it  were  for  himself. 
His  attitude  toward  a  patient  is,  "  I  am  that 
man." 

As  a  sort  of  spiritual  index  to  the  heart  of 
Dr.  Bucke  I  herewith  reprint  the  dedication 
from  his  book,  "Cosmic  Consciousness": 

TO  MY  SON,  MAURICE  ANDREWS  BUCKE. 

8  December,  1900. 

Dear  Maurice:— A  year  ago  to-day,  in  the 
prime  of  youth,  of  health  and  strength,  in  an 
instant,  by  a  terrible  and  fatal  accident,  you 
were  removed  forever  from  this  world  in 
which  your  mother  and  I  still  live.  Of  all 
young  men  I  have  known  you  were  the  most 
pure,  the  most  noble,  the  most  honorable, 
the  most  tender-hearted.  In  the  business  of 
life  you  were  industrious,  honest,  faithful, 
intelligent  and  entirely  trustworthy.  How  at 
the  time  we  felt  your  loss — how  we  still  feel 
it — I  would  not  set  down  even  if  I  could.  I 
desire  to  speak  here  of  my  confident  hope, 
not  of  my  pain.  I  will  say  that  through  the 
experiences  which  underlie  this  volume  I 
have  been  taught,  that  in  spite  of  death  and 
the  grave,  although  you  are  beyond  the 
range  of  sight  and  hearing,  notwithstanding 
that  the  universe  of  sense  testifies  to  your 


Montanawhichtime 
burns  only  deeper 
and  deeper  into  my 
brain. 

Only  a  little  while 
now  and  we  will 
be  again  together  & 
with  us  those  other 
noble  and  well-be- 
loved souls  gone  be- 
fore. I  am  sure  I 
shall  meet  you  and 
them;  and  that  you 
and  I  shall  talk  of  a 
thousand  things  and  of  that  unforgetable 
day  and  of  all  that  followed  it ;  and  that  we 
shall  clearly  see  that  all  were  parts  of  an  in- 
finite plan  which  was  wholly  wise  and  good. 
Do  you  see  and  approve  as  I  write  these 
words?  It  may  be  well.  Do  you  read  from 
within  what  I  am  now  thinking  and  feeling? 
If  you  do  you  know  how  dear  to  me  you 
were  while  you  yet  lived  what  we  call  life 
here  and  how  much  more  dear  you  have  be- 
come to  me  since. 

Because  of  the  indissoluble  links  of  birth 
and  death  wrought  by  nature  and  fate  be- 
tween us ;  because  of  my  love  and  because 
of  my  grief;  above  all  because  of  the  infin- 
ite and  inextinguishable  confidence  there  is 
within  my  heart,  I  inscribe  to  you  this  book 
which,  full  as  it  is  of  imperfections  which 
render  it  unworthy  of  your  acceptance,  has 
nevertheless  sprung  from  the  divine  assur- 
ance born  of  the  deepest  insight  of  the  no- 
blest members  of  our  race. 
So  longl  dear  boy.  YOUR  father. 

While  the  printers  were  putting  the  above 
article  into  type,  word  came  that  Dr.  Bucke 
was  dead.  There  had  been  a  storm  of  sleet 
and  snow:  the  trees  were  laden  with  their 
burden  of  beauty  that  beamed  and  sparkled 
in  the  bright  moonlight.  The  Doctor  had 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  51 


spoken  of  this  beauty  to  his  family,  and  had 
stepped  out  upon  the  veranda  to  view  it.  He 
slipped  and  fell,  striking  on  the  back  of  his 
head,  and  died  almost  instantly  from  con- 
cussion of  the  brain.  Painlessly  and  without 
warning  he  passed  away,  the  prime  thought 
of  his  life  filling  his  heart  at  the  instant — the 
wonder  and  beauty  of  this  great  Universe! 
It  will  not  be  amiss 
for  me  to  repeat  here 
what  I  said  at  the 
Roycroft  Chapel 
two  weeks  before 
Dr.  Bucke's  death, 
on  returning  from  a 
visit  to  him:  C"Dr. 
Bucke,  the  friend, 
companion  and  lit- 
erary executor  of 
Walt  Whitman,  is 
the  manliest  man  I 
ever  saw.  His  face 
beams  with  intelli- 
gence, animation,  honesty,  courage,  gentle- 
ness and  good  cheer.  He  radiates  life  and 
health.  The  tenderness  and  sympathy  he 
shows  for  those  poor  people  in  his  charge  is 
god-like,  yet  his  feelings  never  play  him 
false — he  is  never  maudlin — he  does  not  go 
down  to  them:  he  lifts  them  up  to  him." 
When  a  young  man  Bucke  was  caught  by  a 
storm  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  lost  in 
the  snow.  When  found  his  feet  were  frozen 
so  that  circulation  had  ceased.  His  compan- 
ions amputated  the  feet — anaesthetics  being  a 
thousand  miles  away.  For  six  weeks  the 
stricken  man  lay  in  that  mountain  cabin,  ten- 
ded only  by  his  rough,  yet  gentle,  compan- 
ions. For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  had  time 
to  think.  "  I  was  born  again,"  he  said  to  me, 
with  a  smile,  "  I  was  born  again ;  it  cost  me 
my  feet — yet  it  was  worth  the  price !  " 
Few,  comparatively,  knew  of  the  tragedy  of 
this  man's  life — the  artificial  feet — although 
he  did  not  regard  it  as  a  tragedy,  and  he  was 
averse  to  mentioning  it.  He  reveled  in  the 
blessings  of  existence,  not  its  disadvantages. 
And  he  only  mentioned  the  facts  to  me  to 
make  clear  a  point  in  philosophy:  we  pay 
for  every  blessing  with  a  price. 
It  was  Jack  Frost  that  crunched  his  feet ; 
it  was  the  beauty  of  the  Frost  that  lured  him 
out  of  his  library  the  night  of  his  death.  Yet, 


true  to  his  nature,  he  bore  his  ancient  ene- 
my no  grudge.  He  did  not  even  take  the  pre- 
caution to  carry  his  cane — the  ice  had  been 
lying  in  wait  for  near  fifty  years — it  grap- 
pled with  him,  and  he  was  dead. 
I  shed  no  tears  on  account  of  the  fate  of  this 
strong  and  manly  man :  he  did  his  work, 
lived  his  life,  and  the  power  that  upheld  and 
sustained  him  Here 
will  not  forsake  him 
There.  He  was  very 
nearly  an  Emanci- 
pated man — almost 
Universal.  And  the 
Power  that  loaned 
him  to  us  possibly 
has  need  for  him 
elsewhere.  Earth  is 
poorer  for  his  pass- 
ing; and  we  are  the 
richer  that  he  lived. 
He  has  gone  Some- 
where. 

ffgfHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  The  spirit 
^  V  ; "<  grows  through  exercise  of  its  faculties 
just  as  a  muscle  grows  strong  through 
use.  Expression  is  necessary  to  life.  Life  is 
expression,  and  repression  is  stagnation — 
death. 

Yet  there  is  right  expression  and  wrong  ex- 
pression. If  a  man  permits  his  life  to  run  riot 
and  only  the  animal  side  of  his  nature  is  al- 
lowed to  express  itself,  he  is  repressing  his 
highest  and  best,  and  therefore  those  quali- 
ties not  used  atrophy  and  die. 
Men  are  punished  by  their  sins,  not  for 
them.  Sensuality,  gluttony  and  the  life  of 
license  repress  the  life  of  the  spirit  and  the 
soul  never  blossoms ;  and  this  is  what  it  is 
to  lose  one's  soul.  All  a-down  the  centuries 
thinking  men  have  noted  these  truths,  and 
again  and  again  we  find  individuals  forsak- 
ing, in  horror,  the  life  of  the  senses  and  de- 
voting themselves  to  the  life  of  the  spirit. 
This  question  of  expression  through  the 
spirit,  or  through  the  senses — through  soul, 
or  body — has  been  the  pivotal  point  of  all 
philosophies  and  the  inspiration  of  all  our 
religions. 

Every  religion  is  made  up  of  two  elements 
that  never  mix  any  more  than  oil  and  water 
mix.  A  religion  is  a  mechanical  mixture,  not 
a  chemical  combination,  of  morality  and 


HE  individual  who  does 
a  great  and  magnificent 
work  is  on  close  and 
friendly  terms  with  God. 
He  is  the  son  of  God, 
and  it  is  necessary  that  he  should 
feel  his  kinship  in  order  to  do  his 
work. 

C  We  grow  strong  thro'  doing  things. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  52 


dogma.  Dogma  is  the  science  of  the  unseen: 
the  doctrine  of  the  unknown  and  unknowa- 
ble. And  to  give  this  science  plausibility  its 
promulgators  have  always  fastened  it  upon 
morality.  Morality  can  and  does  exist  en- 
tirely separate  and  apart  from  dogma,  but 
dogma  is  ever  a  parasite  on  morality,  and 
the  business  of  priests  is  to  confuse  the  two. 
C  But  morality  and 
religion  never  sa- 
ponify. Morality  is 
simply  the  question 
of  the  expression  of 
your  life  forces- 
how  shall  you  use 
them?  You  have  so 
much  energy — and 
what  will  you  do 
with  it?  And  from 
out  the  multitude 
there  have  always 
been  men  to  step 
forward  &  give  you 
advice  for  a  consideration.  Without  their 
supposed  influence  with  the  Unseen  we 
might  not  accept  their  interpretation  of  what 
is  right  and  wrong.  But  with  the  assurance 
that  their  advice  is  backed  up  by  Deity,  fol- 
lowed with  an  offer  of  reward  if  we  believe 
it,  and  a  threat  of  punishment  if  we  don't, 
the  Volunteer-Superior  Class  has  driven  men 
wheresoever  it  will.  The  evolution  of  formal 
religions  is  not  a  complex  process,  and  the 
fact  that  they  embody  these  two  unmixable 
things,  dogma  and  morality,  is  a  very  plain 
and  simple  truth,  easily  understood,  undis- 
puted by  all  reasonable  men. 
And  be  it  said  that  the  morality  of  most  re- 
ligions is  good.  Love,  gentleness,  truth,  char- 
ity and  justice  are  taught  in  them  all.  But, 
like  a  rule  in  Greek  grammar,  there  are 
many  exceptions.  And  so  in  the  morality  of 
religions  there  are  exceptional  instances  con- 
stantly arising  where  love,  truth,  charity, 
gentleness  and  justice  are  waived,  on  sug- 
gestion of  the  Superior  Class,  that  good  may 
follow.  Were  it  not  for  these  exceptions 
there  would  be  no  wars  between  Christian 
nations. 

The  question  of  how  to  express  your  life 
will  probably  never  down,  for  the  reason 
that  men  vary  in  temperament  and  inclina- 
tion. Some  men  have  no  capacity  for  certain 


sins  of  the  flesh;  and  others  there  be,  who, 
having  lost  their  inclination  for  sensuality 
through  too  much  indulgence,  turn  ascetics. 
Yet  all  sermons  have  but  one  theme:  how 
shall  life  be  expressed?  Between  asceticism 
and  indulgence  men  and  races  swing. 
Asceticism  in  our  day  finds  an  interesting 
manifestation  in  the  Trappists,  who  live  on 
a  mountain,  nearly 
inaccessible,  and 
deprive  themselves 
of  almost  every  ves- 
tige of  bodily  com- 
fort, going  without 
food  for  days,  wear- 
ing  uncomfortable 
garments,  suffering 
severe  cold;  and 
should  one  of  this 
community  look 
upon  the  face  of  a 
woman  he  would 
think  he  was  in  in- 
stant danger  of  damnation.  So  here  we  find 
the  extreme  instance  of  men  repressing  the 
faculties  of  the  body  in  order  that  the  spirit 
may  find  ample  time  and  opportunity  for 
exercise. 

Between  this  extreme  repression  and  the 
license  of  the  sensualist  lies  the  truth.  But 
just  where,  is  the  great  question;  and  the 
desire  of  one  person,  who  thinks  he  has 
discovered  the  norm,  to  compel  all  other 
men  to  stop  there,  has  led  to  war  and  strife 
untold.  All  law  centers  around  this  point — 
what  shall  men  be  allowed  to  do?  And  so 
we  find  statutes  to  punish  "strolling  play 
actors,"  "players  on  fiddles,"  "disturbers 
of  the  public  conscience,"  persons  who 
dance  wantonly,"  "blasphemers,"  and  in 
England  there  were  in  the  year  1800  thirty- 
seven  offenses  punishable  by  death. 
When  expression  is  right,  and  what  not,  is  a 
matter  of  opinion.  One  religious  denomina- 
tion that  now  exists  does  not  allow  singing; 
instrumental  music  has  been  to  some  a  rock 
of  offense,  exciting  the  spirit,  through  the 
sense  of  hearing,  to  improper  thoughts — 
"through  the  lascivious  pleasing  of  a  lute"; 
others  think  dancing  wicked,  while  a  few 
allow  pipe-organ  music,  but  draw  the  line 
at  the  violin;  while  still  others  employ  a 
whole  orchestra  in  their  religious  service. 


be 


OTra  OVERS  of  the  truth  must 
SSfe»i  thank  exile  for  some  of 
our  richest  and  ripest  lit- 
erature. Exile  is  not  all 
exile.  Imagination  cannot 
imprisoned.  Amid  the  winding 


bastions  of  the  brain  thought  roams 
free  and  untrammeled. 
<L  Liberty  is  only  a  comparative  term. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  53 


Some  there  be  who  regard  pictures  as  im- 
plements of  idolatry;  while  the  Hook  and 
Eye  Baptists  regard  buttons  as  immoral. 
C  Strange  evolutions  are  often  witnessed 
within  the  life  of  one  individual.  For  instance, 
Leo  Tolstoy,  a  great  and  good  man,  once  a 
sensualist,  has  now  turned  ascetic,  a  not 
unusual  evolution  in  the  lives  of  the  saints. 
But,  excellent  as 


this  man  is,  there  is 
a  grave  imperfec- 
tion in  his  cosmos 
which  to  a  degree 
vitiates  the  truth  he 
tries  to  teach:  he 
leaves  the  element 
of  beauty  out  of  his 
formula.  Not  caring 
for  harmony  as  set 
forth  in  color,  form 
and  sweet  sounds, 
he  is  quite  willing 
to  deprive  all  others 
of  these  things 
which  minister  to 
their  well-being. 
There  is  in  most 
souls  a  hunger  for 
beauty,  just  as  there 
is  physical  hunger. 
Beauty  speaks  to 
their  spirits  through 
the  senses;  but  Tol- 
stoy would  have 
your  house  barren 
to  the  verge  of  hard- 
ship. My  veneration 
for  Count  Tolstoy 
is  profound,  yet  I 
mention  him  here 
simply  to  show  the 
danger  that  lies  in 
allowing  any  man,  even  one  of  the  wis- 
est of  men,  to  dictate  to  us  what  is  best. 
We  ourselves  are  the  better  judges.  Most 
of  the  frightful  cruelties  inflicted  on  men 
during  the  past  have  arisen  simply  out 
of  a  difference  of  opinion  arising  through 
a  difference  in  temperament.  The  question 
is  as  live  today  as  it  was  two  thousand  years 
ago — what  expression  is  best?  That  is,  what 
shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  And  concrete 
absurdity  consists  in  saying  we  must  all  do 


the  same  thing.  Whether  the  race  will  ever 
grow  to  a  point  where  men  will  be  willing 
to  leave  the  matter  of  Life-Expression  to  the 
individual  is  a  question,  but  the  Millennium 
will  never  arrive  until  men  cease  trying  to 
compel  all  other  men  to  live  after  one  pattern, 
it  Most  people  are  anxious  to  do  what  is 
best  for  themselves  and  least  harmful  for 
others.  The  average 

EX  holds  first  place 


in 

the  thought  of  God.  Its 
glory  pervades  and  suf- 
fuses all  Nature.  It  is  sex 
that  gives  the  bird  its 
song,  the  peacock  its  gorgeous  plu- 
mage, the  lion  his  mane,  the  buf- 
falo his  strength  and  the  horse  his 
proud  arch  of  neck  and  flowing  tail. 
Aye,  it  is  sex  that  causes  the  flow- 
ers to  draw  from  dull  earth  those 
delicate  perfumes  that  delight  the 
sense  of  smell;  it  is  sex,  and  sex 
alone,  that  secures  to  them  the  daz- 
zling galaxy  of  shapes  and  colors 
that  reflect  the  Infinite. 
C I  wish  that  all  parents  knew  that 
love  is  better  than  a  cat-o'-nine-tails, 
and  that  sympathy  saves  more  souls 
than  threats  do. 

CLThe  friends  we  have  are  only  our 
other  selves, — we  get  what  we  de- 


man  now  has  intelli- 
gence enough:  Uto- 
pia is  not  far  off,  if 
the  self-appointed 
folk  who  govern  us, 
&  teach  us  for  a  con- 
sideration, would 
only  be  willing  to 
do  unto  others  as 
they  would  be  done 
by,  that  is  to  say, 
mind  theirown  bus- 
iness, and  cease 
coveting  things  that 
belong  to  other  peo- 
ple. War  among 
nations  and  strife 
among  individuals 
is  a  result  of  the 
covetous  spirit  to 
possess  either  pow- 
er or  things  or  both. 
A  little  more  pa- 
tience, a  little  more 
charity  for  all,  a 
little  more  devotion, 
a  little  more  love; 
with  less  bowing 
down  to  the  past, 
and  a  silent  ignor- 
ing of  pretended 
authority;  a  brave 
looking  forward  to 
the  future,  with  more  confidence  in  our- 
selves, and  more  faith  in  our  fellows,  and 
the  race  will  be  ripe  for  a  great  burst  of  light 
and  life. 

- -REACHING  IS  BETTER  THAN 
SgPUNISHING.  Honey  bees  are  the 
Mllmost  intelligent  animals  of  their  size  of 
all  the  works  of  God.  Bees  should  be  han- 
dled by  those  who  love  them.  To  handle 
bees  carelessly  or  indifferently  is  to  injure 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  54 


the  bees ;  and  probably  to  be  injured  your- 
self. Aye,  you  may  pay  for  your  carelessness 
with  your  life. 

Men  who  manage  horses  successfully  are 
always  men  who  love  horses.  I  am  a  horse- 
man and  know  by  actual  experience  every 
phase  of  horse  raising  and  horse  training. 
«L  Horses  should  be  taught,  and  not  broken. 
<^Men  should  be 
taught,  and  not  gov- 
erned. 

And  to  teach  suc- 
cessfully you  must 
love.  He  who  loves 
the  most  is  the  best 
teacher. 

Men  who  manage 
men  should  be  those 
who  love  men.  But 
most  jails  and  pri- 
sonsareinthehands 
of  men  who  despise 
and  fear  other  men. 
Every  prison  is  a 
university  in  which 
hate,  falsehood,  vil- 
lainy and  vice  are 
taught.  Every  jail 
is  a  sort  of  prepar- 
atory school  for 
wrong.  And  all  the 
hate  and  untruth 
that  prisons  create 
spring  naturally  in- 
to being  for  the  rea- 
son that  men  are 
filled  with  the  de- 
lusion that  they  pos- 
sess a  divine  right 
to  punishother  men. 
Every  item  of  the 
decalog  can  be  le- 
gally broken,  and  the  business  of  lawyers  isto 
tell  you  how.  Thus  society  sets  the  example 
of  wrongdoing.  And  so  long  as  the  state  sets 
the  example  of  killing  its  enemies,  men  will 
occasionally  kill  theirs.  Laws,  to  a  degree, 
are  contrivances  for  revenge,  but  principally 
for  making  the  many  pay  tithes  and  taxes  to 
the  few.  Are  the  politicians  you  know  men 
who  love  their  fellow-men  ? 
Be  careful  how  you  manage  men,  for  the 
day  is  surely  coming  when  if  you  have  not 


love  and  yet  attempt  to  manage  men,  you 
will  pay  for  your  rashness  with  your  life. 
CI  Preachers  have  told  us  that  we  should  re- 
form in  order  to  prepare  for  death.  The  wise 
teacher  tells  men  that  they  should  forsake 
sin,  so  as  to  prepare  for  life.  Sin  is  a  wrong 
expression  of  your  life  energy  and  therefore 
is  a  mistake— and  a  mistake  fraught  with 
bad  results. 


HE  pure,  happy  life  of 
Nature  would  pale  at  the 
thought  of  abusing  one's 
mate.  Among  wild  ani- 
mals the  females  are  pro- 
tected; no  tigress  is  ever  abused  or 
imposed  upon — in  fact,  she  would 
not  stand  it.  In  a  condition  of  un- 
trammeled  nature  animals  are  emi- 
nently just  and  moral  in  their  love 
affairs.  In  a  state  of  captivity,  how- 
ever, they  will  sometimes  do  very 
unbecoming  things. 
CL  When  we  realize  that  we  are  a 
part  of  all  that  we  see,  or  hear,  or 
feel,  we  are  not  lonely.  But  to  feel 
a  sense  of  separation  is  to  feel  the 
chill  of  death. 

C  Things  strongly  condemned  must 
have  merit,  for  why  should  the  pack 
bay  so  loudly  if  there  is  no  quarry! 
C  The  achievement  is  more  than  the 
public  acknowledgement  of  the  deed. 


All  men  in  the  law 
or  out  of  it,  who 
make  a  business  of 
disciplining  others, 
are  in  a  very  bad 
&  foolish  business. 
C  That  is  to  say, 
they  are  expressing 
their  lives  unwisely 
—  sinfully.  Judges, 
lawyers,  detectives, 
policemen  &  prison 
guards  are  expres- 
sing their  lives  ab- 
surdly, so  they  very 
seldom  grow  either 
in  intellect  or  spirit. 
Almost  without  ex- 
ception they  are  all 
rogues  and  hypo- 
crites. 

Sin  is  its  own  pun- 
ishment. God  never 
punishes  men  for 
their  sins :  a  self- 
lubricating  &  auto- 
matic Law  looks  out 
for  that.  How  pre- 
posterous the  illus- 
ion that  holds  fast 
in  the  mind  of  puny 
man  that  it  is  his  du- 
ty to  go  nosing  and 
hunting  around  over  the  world  with  hand- 
cuffs, clubs  &  come-alongs  in  order  to  punish 
other  men  who  have  sinned !  Such  hunters 
of  men  are  ignorant  of  both  God  and  Man, 
and  are  themselves  hunted  by  the  devil.  C, Be 
wise  and  teach,  but  do  not  punish :  for  God 's 
in  his  Heaven,  and  all 's  right  with  the  world. 

tWM  HAT  SHOULD  BE  THE  FUNC- 
||f|  TION  OF  GOVERNMENT.  Every 
&±m4  thoughtful  traveler  in  Europe  must 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  55 


be  impressed  with  the  superfluity  of  folks — 
that  is  to  say,  folks  with  nothing  to  do.  In 
Italy  this  plethora  seems  more  pronounced 
than  elsewhere.  At  every  hotel  there  are  four 
servants  where  only  one  is  required. 
At  Genoa  there  lined  up  in  the  hallway  to 
speed  my  parting  a  facchino,  four  porters, 
three  waiters,  two  chambermaids  and  a  boots, 
while  tapering  off 
into  the  street  were 
various  able-bodied 
loungers,  numerous 
old  women  and  a 
full  dozen  small  bri- 
gands. Each  and  ev- 
ery one  in  the  line 
expected — aye,  de- 
manded legal-ten- 
der. All  had  done 
service,  or  said  they 
had,  and  to  omit  any 
one  from  the  pay- 
roll was  to  call  down 
curses  loud  &  deep. 
The  amount  of  tax 
ran  from  one  lire 
(twenty  cents)to  five 
centesimi(onecent), 
and  a  small  hand- 
ful of  coppers  was 
then  required  for 
the  mob  to  struggle 
for  in  the  street,  so  escape  could  be  made 
under  cover  of  the  smoke. 
At  Venice  you  pay  your  gondolier  a  tariff 
rate  per  hour,  and  as  he  calls  off  the  names 
of  the  palaces  you  pass  (when  you  wish  he 
would  not)  in  a  gibberish  he  thinks  is  Eng- 
lish, you  must  pay  him  extra.  Besides,  if 
you  are  so  reckless  as  to  land  along  the  way, 
the  "hooker"  who  holds  the  boat  expects  a 
copper.  At  all  churches  old  women  open  the 
doors  and  officious  loungers  offer  informa- 
tion that  is  not  desired,  for  expected  coin. 
CTo  refuse  to  give  to  the  beggars  is  to  invite 
insult  and  insolence.  Desperation  is  written 
on  the  dark  faces  that  beseech  you,  and  when 
you  remember  how,  not  many  moons  ago, 
this  superfluous  Italian  populace  exploded 
in  one  wild  yell  and  made  a  dash  for  the 
baker  shop  windows,  you  do  not  wonder. 
C,  Naples,  Rome,  Florence  and  Milan  were 
placed  under  martial  law,  and  at  Milan  alone 


in  the  month  of  May,  1898,  two  hundred 
people  were  shot  by  the  soldiers  in  the  pub- 
lic streets  during  my  brief  stay. 
I  saw  volleys  fired  into  crowds.  The  living 
would  scurry  away  like  frightened  rabbits, 
into  alleys,  houses,  side  streets,  cellars.  But 
there  on  the  sidewalks  and  in  the  streets  lay 
the  fallen  and  tumbled  dead  —  men,  women 
and  children.  In  less 
than  five  minutes' 
time  wagons  loaded 
with  soldiers  dash- 
ed up; the  dead  and 
dying  were  thrown 
like  cord-wood  into 
the  springless  tum- 
brils, &  with  crack- 
ing of  whips,  horses 
and  wagons  dashed 
away.  Some  of  the 
soldiers  remained  & 
with  hose  and  buck- 
ets and  brooms  ev- 
ery vestige  of  blood 
was  washed  away. 
The  papers  made  no 
reports — some  de- 
nied that  a  volley 
had  been  fired. 
And  now  the  King 
of  Italy  has  gone  by 
a  quick  and  painless 
route  into  the  Beyond.  He  was  only  a  man 
—  not  a  great  man,  neither  was  he  a  bad 
man.  Only  a  vain,  ignorant,  selfish  man  — 
with  transient  moods  of  wanting  to  do  right 
— whose  feet  had  been  caught  in  a  mesh  of 
wrong,  and  who  had  n't  the  power  to  get 
away.  To  kill  him  was  absurd,  for  the  wrong 
for  which  he  stood  still  exists.  It  is  the  insti- 
tution and  policy,  not  the  man.  More  volleys 
will  be  fired  into  the  crowds  that  cry  for 
bread.  The  death-carts  will  continue  to  dump 
their  victims  into  coffinless  graves. 
I  shed  tears  for  the  homeless,  the  harassed, 
the  oppressed  — for  the  women  who  hold 
hungry  babes  to  famished  breasts — for  the 
ignorant  and  brutal  who  wrench  at  their 
bonds,  and  who  by  violence  hope  to  achieve 
freedom. 

For  the  dead  King  I  waste  no  pity.  He  him- 
self caused  thousands  of  men  to  be  killed. 
He  lived  by  the  sword  and  died  by  the 


HE  great  orator  always 
shows  a  dash  of  indiffer- 
ence for  the  opinions  of 
his  auditors;  and  the 
great  writer  is  he  who 
loses  self-consciousness  and  writes 
himself  down  as  he  is,  for  at  the 
last  analysis  all  literature  is  a  con- 
fession       r&&>  Ag®> 

*lSo  peculiar,  complex,  and  won- 
derful is  this  web  of  life,  that  our 
very  blunders,  weaknesses  and  mis- 
takes are  woven  in  and  make  the 
fabric  stronger. 

CLHate  may  animate,  but  only  love 
inspires  rfgsz  A£6$> 


(CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  56 


bullet.  What  else  could  he  expect?  He  in- 
vited his  fate.  He  was  only  a  slave  at  the 
last,  and  Death  has  set  him  free. 
Italy  has  less  than  one-half  the  population 
of  the  United  States,  yet  she  has  a  navy  that 
outmatches  ours.  She  maintains  an  army  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  in  time 
of  peace,  and  there  is  one  priest  for  every 
sixty  persons.  She 
might  maintain  the 
priests,  but  she  can- 
not possibly  hope 
to  advance  &  carry 
the  army  that  rides 
upon  her  back.  Italy 
is  the  extreme  type 
of  all  the  European 
countries,  with  the 
exception  of  Hol- 
land, Switzerland, 
Norway  and  Swe- 
den.These  stand  for 
intelligence,  sobrie- 
ty, beauty  &  worth. 
Italy  is  rotting  at  the 
core.  The  moss  is  at 
work  pulling  down 
the  palaces  that  Ca- 
prino  planned;  the 
grass  springs  from 
between  the  paving 
stones  where  Mich- 


O  me  the  love  of  man  for 
woman  is  as  sacred  a 
thing  as  Christ's  love  for 
the  Church:  and  all  of  its 
attributes  are  as  divine  as 
any  of  the  fantastic  hazards  of  mind. 
Indeed  we  should  know  nothing  of 
love  did  we  not  see  it  manifest  in 
man,  and  the  only  reason  we  be- 
lieve in  the  love  of  God  is  because 
we  find  love  on  earth. 
C  For  merit  there  is  a  recompense  in 
sneers,  and  a  benefit  in  sarcasms, 
and  a  compensation  in  hate:  for  when 
these  things  get  too  pronounced  a 
champion  appears^^^^^^^^^^^ 


ael  Angelo  trod,  and  the  noble  Romans  and 
courtly  Florentines,  like  the  crawling  lizards, 
only  bask  in  the  sun  in  winter  and  move  but 
to  keep  in  the  shade  in  summer.  Conscrip- 
tion kills  ambition.  Men  will  not  work  where 
the  Government  demands  half  their  wages, 
as  Italy  does.  Only  two  careers  worth  men- 
tioning are  open  to  aspiring  youth  in  Italy  — 
the  army  and  the  church.  Manual  labor  is 
held  everywhere  in  contempt,  and  this  ac- 
counts for  the  seeming  superfluity  of  folks 
and  the  brazen  beggardom.  The  rich  set  the 
example  of  idleness.  Italy's  art  is  a  thing  of 
the  past.  Italy  was. 

Governments  cannot  be  done  away  with  in- 
stantaneously, but  progress  will  come,  as  it 
has  in  the  past,  by  lessening  the  number  of 
laws.  We  want  less  governing,  and  the  ideal 
government  will  arrive  when  there  is  no 
government  at  all. 

So  long  as  governments  set  the  example  of 


killing  their  enemies,  private  individuals  will 
occasionally  kill  theirs.  So  long  as  men  are 
clubbed,  robbed,  imprisoned,  disgraced  and 
hanged  by  the  governing  class,  just  so  long 
will  the  idea  of  violence  and  brutality  be 
born  in  the  souls  of  men. 
Governments  imprison  men  and  then  hound 
them  when  they  are  released.  Hate  will 
never  die  so  long  as 
men  are  taken  from 
useful  production 
on  the  specious  plea 
of  patriotism,  and 
bayonets  gleam  in 
the  name  of  God. 
CThe  worst  part 
about  making  a  sol- 
dier of  a  man  is  not 
that  he  kills  brown 
men  or  white  men, 
but  that  the  soldier 
loses  his  own  soul. 
31  In  America  just 
now  there  are  strong 
signs  of  following 
the  example  of  mod- 
ern Italy.  To  divert 
the  attention  of  men 
from  useful  produc- 
tion to  war,  waste 
and  wealth  through 
conquest  is  to  invite 
moral  disease  and  death.  The  history  of  na- 
tions dead  and  gone  is  one.  They  grew 
"strong"  and  died  because  they  did.  Insur- 
ance actuaries  say  that  athletes  are  bad  risks. 
^Switzerland  to-day  is  the  least  illiterate  as 
well  as  the  most  truly  prosperous  country  in 
the  world.  She  is,  in  fact,  the  only  republic, 
for  the  people  themselves  make  the  laws. 
Her  government  is  of  the  people.  In  Switzer- 
land to  work  with  your  hands  is  honorable 
—  manual  training  for  both  boys  and  girls  is 
a  part  of  the  public  school  system.  Her 
gilded  social  aristocracy  is  either  English  or 
American. 

Switzerland  has  no  navy,  for  the  same  rea- 
son that  Bohemia  has  not;  and  while  every 
man  is  a  soldier,  yet  three  weeks'  service 
every  year  is  only  a  useful  play  spell.  In 
Switzerland  there  is  no  beggardom  and  little 
vice.  Everywhere  life  and  property  are  safe; 
the  people  are  healthy,  prosperous  and 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  57 


happy.  Switzerland  minds  her  own  business 
and  the  chief  tenet  of  her  political  creed  is, 
"We  will  attend  to  our  own  affairs."  She 
will  fight  only  if  invaded,  and  fortunately  she 
is  not  big  enough  to  indulge  in  jingo  swagger. 
stLThe  flag  of  Switzerland  is  the  White  Cross 
— white  on  a  red  background  —  and  this  is 
the  symbol  of  peace  and  amity  the  wide  world 
over.  The  "Geneva 
Cross,"  a  red  cross 
on  a  white  back- 
ground, designed  in 
compliment  to  Swit- 
zerland, is  the  one 
flag  upon  which  no 
cannon  is  trained. 
CAnd  now  at  the 
parting  of  the  ways 
would  it  not  be  wise 
for  our  America  to 
choose  between  the 
example  of  Switz- 
erland and  Italy? 
C  America  is  truly 
a  giant;  it  is  well 
to  have  the  strength 
of  a  giant  but  not 
well  to  use  it  like  a 
giant.  This  country 
is  the  richest  coun- 
try the  world  has 
known — in  treasure 
and  in  men  and  women.  If  we  mind  our  own 
business  and  devote  our  energies  to  the  arts 
of  peace  we  can  solve  a  problem  that  has 
vexed  the  world  from  the  beginning  of  time. 
Shall  we  make  our  country  blossom  like  the 
rose,  or  shall  we  follow  the  example  of  Italy? 

grflRT  AND  RELIGION.  I  am  not  en- 

WJnffl  tirely  sure  this  will  hold  in  every 

mM.  instance,  but  it  seems  true  in  the  main. 

Please  think  it  out  for  yourself,  and  if  I 'm 

wrong,  put  me  straight. 

The  proposition  is  this:  The  Artist  needs  no 

religion  beyond  his  work. 

That  is  to  say,  Art  is  religion  to  the  man  who 

thinks  beautiful  thoughts  and  expresses  them 

for  others  the  best  he  can. 

Religion  is  an  emotional  excitement  whereby 

the  devotee  rises  into  a  state  of  spiritual 

sublimity,  and  for  the  moment  is  bathed  in 

an  atmosphere  of  rest,  and  peace,  and  love. 


All  normal  men  and  women  crave  such 
periods;  and  Bernard  Shaw  says  we  reach 
them  through  strong  tea,  tobacco,  whiskey, 
opium,  love,  art  or  religion. 
I  think  Bernard  Shaw  a  cynic,  but  there  is  a 
glimmer  of  truth  in  his  idea  that  makes  it 
worth  repeating.  But  beyond  Natural  Reli- 
gion, which  is  the  passion  for  oneness  with 
the  Whole,  all  form- 
alized religions  en- 
graft the  element  of 
fear,  and  teach  the 
necessity  of  placat- 
ing a  Supreme  Be- 
ing. C.  Our  idea  of 
a  Supreme  Being  is 
suggested  to  us  by 
the  political  govern- 
ment under  which 
we  live.  The  situa- 
tion was  summed  up 
by  Carlylewhen  he 
said  that  Deity  to 
the  average  British 
mind  was  simply  an 
infinite  George  the 
Fourth. The  thought 
of  God  as  a  terri- 
ble SupremeTyrant 
first  found  form  in 
an  unlimited  mon- 
archy; but  as  gov- 
ernments have  become  more  lenient  so  have 
the  gods,  until  you  get  them  down  (or  up)  to 
a  republic,  where  God  is  only  a  President 
and  we  all  approach  him  in  familiar  prayer, 
on  an  absolute  equality. 
Then  soon,  for  the  first  time,  we  find  man 
saying,  "I  am  God,  and  you  are  God,  and 
we  are  all  simply  particles  of  Him,"  and  this 
is  where  the  President  is  done  away  with, 
and  the  Referendum  comes  in.  But  the  ab- 
sence of  a  supreme  governing  head  implies 
simplicity,  honesty,  justice  and  sincerity. 
Wherever  plottings,  schemings  and  doubtful 
methods  of  life  are  employed,  a  ruler  is 
necessary;  and  there,  too,  religion,  with  its 
thought  of  placating  God,  has  a  firm  hold. 
Men  whose  lives  are  doubtful  want  a  strong 
government  and  a  hot  religion. 
Formal  religion  and  sin  go  hand  in  hand. 
C  Formal  religion  and  slavery  go  hand  in 
hand.  C  Formal  religion  and  tyranny  go 


MOB  is  the  quintessence 
of  cowardice  —  a  dirty, 
mad,  hydra-headed  mon- 
ster, that  one  good  valiant 
St.  George  can  thrust  to 
the  heart.  When  a  mob  speaks  I  say: 
Vox  populi  vox  devil! 
C  A  smooth  lawn  with  terra  cotta 
statuary  gives  a  peace  to  the  posses- 
sor that  even  religion  cannot  lend. 
C,  The  brethren  of  Joseph  deposited 
him  in  a  cavity,  but  you  cannot  dis- 
pose of  genius  that  way. 
CL  The  men  who  live  in  history  are 
those  whose  lives  have  been  well 
written  a$®> 


C  O  i\  T  E  M  P  LATI O  N  S 


Page  58 


m 


hand  in  hand.C  Formal  religion  and  ignor- 
ance go  hand  in  hand. 
And  sin,  slavery,  tyranny  and  ignorance  are 
one  — they  are  never  separated. 
Formal  religion  is  a  scheme  whereby  man 
hopes  to  make  peace  with  his  Maker;  and 
formal  religion  also  tends  to  satisfy  the  sense 
of  sublimity  where  the  man  has  failed  to 
find  satisfaction  in 
his  work.  Voltaire 
says,  "When  wom- 
an no  longer  finds 
herselfacceptableto 
man,  she  turns  to 
God."  When  man 
is  no  longer  accept- 
able to  himself  he 
goes  to  church.  In 
order  to  keep  this 
article  from  extend- 
ing itself  into  a  tome, 
I  purposely  omitted 
saying  a  single  thing 
about  the  Protestant 
Church  as  a  useful 
Social  Club,  &  have 
just  assumed,  for  ar- 
gument's sake,  that 
the  church  is  a  reli- 
gious institution. 
A  formal  religion  is 
a  cut  'cross  lots — 
an  attempt  to  bring  about  the  emotions  and 
sensations  that  come  to  a  man  by  the  prac- 
tice of  love,  virtue,  excellence  and  truth. 
When  you  do  a  splendid  piece  of  work  and 
express  your  best,  there  comes  to  you,  as 
reward,  an  exaltation  of  soul,  a  sublimity  of 
feeling  that  puts  you  for  the  moment  en  rap- 
port with  the  Infinite.  A  formal  religion 
brings  this  feeling  without  your  doing  any- 
thing useful,  therefore  it  is  unnatural. 
Formalized  religion  is  strongest  where  sin, 
slavery,  tyranny  and  ignorance  abound. 
Where  men  are  free,  enlightened,  and  at 
work,  they  find  all  the  gratification  in  their 
work  that  their  souls  demand  — they  cease 
to  hunt  outside  of  themselves  for  something 
to  give  them  rest.  They  are  at  peace  with 
themselves,  at  peace  with  man  and  with  God. 
CBut  any  man  chained  to  a  hopeless  task, 
whose  daily  work  does  not  express  himself, 
who  is  dogged  by  a  boss,  whenever  he  gets 


a  moment  of  respite  turns  to  drink  or  religion. 
41  Men  with  an  eye  on  Saturday  night,  who 
plot  to  supplant  some  one  else,  who  can  locate 
their  employer  any  hour  of  the  day,  who 
use  their  wit  to  evade  labor,  who  think  only 
of  their  summer  vacation  when  they  will  no 
longer  have  to  work,  are  apt  to  be  sticklers 
in  Sabbath  keeping  and  churchgoing. 

Gentlemen  in  busi- 


T  the  last,  no  man  who 
does  his  own  thinking  is 
an  "ite."  Outwardly  he 
maysubscribetothiscreed 
or  that,  and  if  he  is  very 
discreet  he  may  make  his  language 
conform,  but  inwardly  his  belief  is 
never  pigeonholed,  nor  is  his  soul 
labeled.  In  theology  the  great  man 
recoils  at  the  thought  of  an  exact 
geometrical  theorem,  for  he  knows 
its  vanity;  and  all  algebraic  formu- 
lae in  our  sublime  moments  are 

CaSt  aWay  J^rt^rt^rf^J^rtg^^^ 

C  Hope  pushed  to  the  other  side  is 
cowardice  r4^>^^^^r^>f^>^^,^> 


ness  who  give  elev- 
en for  a  dozen,  and 
count  thirty-four  in- 
ches a  yard,  who 
are  quick  to  fore- 
close a  mortgage,  & 
who  say  "business 
is  business,"  gener- 
ally are  vestrymen, 
deacons  and  church 
trustees.Look  about 
you !  C,  Predaceous 
real  estate  dealers 
who  set  nets  for  all 
theunwary,lawyers 
who  lie  in  wait  for 
their  prey,  the  mer- 
chant princes  who 
grind  their  clerks 
under  the  wheel,  oil 
magnateswhosehis- 
tory  never  is  written 
nor  can  be  written, 
often  make  peace  with  God,  and  find  a  gra- 
tification for  their  sense  of  sublimity  by 
building  churches,  founding  colleges  and 
libraries,  and  holding  fast  to  a  formalized 
religion.  Look  about  you! 
To  recapitulate:  if  your  life-work  is  ques- 
tionable, doubtful  or  distasteful,  you  hold 
the  balance  true  by  going  outside  for  the 
gratification  that  is  your  due,  but  which  your 
daily  work  denies,  and  you  find  it  in  religion. 
I  do  not  say  this  is  always  so,  but  it  is  very 
often.  Great  sinners  are  apt  to  be  very  reli- 
gious; and  conversely  the  best  men  who 
have  ever  lived  have  been  at  war  with  es- 
tablished religions.  And  further,  the  best 
men  are  never  found  in  churches. 
Men  deeply  immersed  in  their  work,  whose 
lives  are  consecrated  to  doing  things,  who 
are  simple,  honest  and  sincere,  want  no 
formal  religion,  need  no  priest  nor  pastor, 
and  seek  no  gratification  outside  their  daily 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  59 


they 


lives.  All  they  ask  is  to  be  let  alone 
wish  only  the  privilege  to  work. 
When  Samuel  Johnson,  on  his  death-bed, 
made  Joshua  Reynolds  promise  he  would 
work  no  more  on  Sunday,  he  of  course  had 
no  conception  of  the  truth  that  Reynolds 
reached,  through  work,  the  same  condition 
of  mind  that  he— Johnson  — had  reached 
by  going  to  church. 
Johnson  despised 
work  and  Reynolds 
loved  it;  Johnson 
considered  one  day 
in  the  week  holy; 
to  Reynolds  all  days 
were  sacred  —  sa- 
cred to  work;  that 
is,  to  the  expression 
of  his  best.  C  Why 
should  you  cease  to 
express  your  high- 
est and  holiest  on 
SundayPAhllknow 
why  you  don't  work 
on  Sunday  1  It  is  be- 
cause you  think  that 
work  is  degrading, 
and  because  your 
barter  and  sale  is 
founded  on  fraud, 
and  your  goods  are 
shoddy.  Your  week- 
day dealings  lie  like 
a  pall  upon  your 
conscience  and  you 
need  a  day  to  throw 
off  the  weariness  of 
that  slavery  under 
which  you  live.  You 
are  not  free,  and 
you  insist  that  oth- 
ers shall  not  be  free. 
CYou  have  ceased 
to  make  work  glad- 
some, and  you  toil 
and  make  others  toil 
with  you,  and  you 


musicians  and  artists  have  all  been  men  of 
deep  religious  natures;  but  their  religion 
has  never  been  a  formalized,  restricted,  ossi- 
fied religion.  They  did  not  worship  at  set 
times  and  places.  Their  religion  has  been  a 
natural  and  spontaneous  blossoming  of  the 
intellect  and  emotions — they  have  worked 
in  love,  not  only  one  day  in  the  week,  but 
rr    '  i      j  *       all  days,  and  to  them 

T  is  only  during  the 
sessions  of  sweet  silent 


thought  that  a  man  can 
summon  his  soul  to  judg- 
ment. Not  even  then  is  he 
always  quite  sincere  or  free  from 
pose,  for  we  view  our  acts  as  a  pass- 
ing procession,  in  which  we  proudly 
march,  and  even  into  the  deepest 
seclusion  we  carry  somewhat  of  this 
strange  dualism  of  character.  The 
average  man  plays  to  the  gallery  of 
his  own  self-esteem. 
C  Superfluous  things  are  the  things 
that  we  ^cannot  do  without;  irrele- 
vant things  in  literature  are  the  nec- 
essary J^rf^rf^&^&&&®>r&&!>&®!> 

<LMan,  in  a  state  of  Nature,  is  true 
to  his  mate,  but  civilize  him,  and  he 
may  be.  Is  it  the  law  of  "Thou  Shalt 
Not"  that  breeds  Immorality? 
CThe  book  written  with  anxious 
purpose  is  made  from  paper,  and  to 
the  paper  mill  it  soon  returns. 
CA  cheerful  resignation  is  always 
heroic;  but  no  phase  of  life  is  so 
pathetic  as  a  forced  optimism 


the  groves  have  al- 
ways and  ever  been 
God's  first  temples. 
Let  us  work  to  make 
men  free!  Am  I  bad 
because  I  want  to 
give  you  freedom, 
and  have  you  work 
in  gladness  instead 
of  fear? 

Do  not  hesitate  to 
work  on  Sunday, 
just  as  you  would 
think  good  thoughts 
if  the  spirit  prompts 
you.  For  work  is, 
at  the  last,  only  the 
expression  of  your 
thought,  and  good 
work  is  religion. 

HE  FOLLY 
OF  LIVING 
IN  THE  FU- 
TURE. The  ques- 
tion is  often  asked, 
"What  becomes  of 
all  the  Valedictori- 
ans and  Class-Day 
Poets?" 

I  can  give  informa- 
tion as  to  two  parties 
for  whom  inquiry  is 
made — the  Valedic- 
torian of  my  Class  is 
now  a  worthy  Floor 


all  well  nigh  faint  from  weariness  and  dis- 
gust. You  are  slave  and  slave  owner,  for  to 
own  slaves  is  to  be  one. 
But  the  Artist  is  free  and  he  works  in  joy, 
and  to  him  all  things  are  good  and  all  days 
are  holy.  The  great  inventors,  thinkers,  poets, 


Walker  in  Siegel, 
CooperCompany's 
and  I  was  the  Class-Day  Poet.  Both  of  us 
had  our  eyes  on  the  Goal.  We  stood  on  the 
Threshold  and  looked  out  upon  the  World 
preparatory  to  going  forth,  seizing  it  by  the 
tail  and  snapping  its  head  off  for  our  own 
delectation.  C,We  had  our  eyes  fixed  on 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  60 


the  Goal  —  it  might  better  have  been  the  gaol. 
Hit  was  a  very  absurd  thing  for  us  to  fix 
our  eyes  on  the  Goal.  It  strained  our  vis- 
ion and  took  our  attention  from  our  work. 
<lTo  think  of  the  Goal  is  to  travel  the  dis- 
tance over  and  over  in  your  mind  and  dwell 
on  how  awfully  far  off  it  is.  We  have  so  little 
mind  — doing  business  on  such  a  small  cap- 
ital of  intellect— that 
to  wear  it  thread- 
bare looking  for  a 
far  off  thing  is  to  get 
hopelessly  stranded 
in  Siegel,  Cooper 
Company's. 
Of  course,  Siegel, 
Cooper  Company 
is  all  right,  too,  but 
the  point  is  this  — 
it  was  n't  the  Goal! 
d  A  goodly  dash  of 
indifference  is  a  re- 
quisite in  the  form- 
ula for  doing  a  great 
work. 

No  one  knows  what 
the  Goal  is— we  are 
sailing  under  sealed 
orders,  tl  Do  your 
work  to-day,  doing 
it  the  best  you  can, 
and  live  one  day  at 
a  time.  The  man  that 
does  this  is  conserv- 
ing his  God-given 
energy,  &  not  spin- 
ning it  out  into  ten- 
uous spider  threads 
that  Fate  will  prob- 
ably brush  away. 
C  To  do  your  work 
well  to-day,  is  the 
sure  preparation  for 
something  better  to- 
morrow. The  past 
has  gone; the  future 


£-3*  HE  STONES  THAT  THE  BUILD- 
II  fi  REJECTED.  There  was  a  time 
\dJm  when  the  farmers  about  East  Aurora 
were  fairly  rich,  but  that  was  in  the  long  ago. 
To  talk  now  about  "the  independence  of  the 
agrarian  population"  is  a  fine  piece  of  irony. 
In  journeying  through  the  country,  when 
you  see  a  house  with  a  touch  of  art  about  it, 
,  t  fences  in  splendid 

N  L I  second-rate  men  have  condition,  outbuild- 
ings painted,  and  a 
barn  that  is  not  de- 
clining into  desue- 
tude, you  may  safe- 
ly assume  that  the 
owner  is  some  city 
man,  playing  at  ag- 
riculture. "I  had  the 
best  farm  in  the 
country,"  said  Hor- 
ace Greeley,  "but  it 
took  all  of  my  in- 
come to  make  it  so." 
CSo  reduced  are 
the  farmers  of  New 
York  State  that  no 
first-class  insurance 
company  will  take  a 
risk  on  farm  prop- 
erty. Farmers  are 
thought  to  be  a  bad 
moral  risk,  it  being 
rightly  assumed  that 
a  man  in  financial 
straits  is  in  no  posi- 
tion to  dally  con- 
cerning such  trifles 
as  meum  and  teum. 
To  insure  a  farmer's 
barn  is  to  invite  the 
man  to  borrow  mon- 
ey &  invest  in  kero- 
sene. Not  one  farm- 
house out  of  forty 
in  New  York  is  in- 
sured, for  the  sim- 


exalted  aims.  The  great  of 
earth  simply  endeavor  to 
do  their  work,  not  to  be 
great.  They  meet  each  pro- 
blem of  life  as  it  presents  itself,  cheer- 
iilly,  bravely,  manfully,  be  the  duty 
ligh  or  low.  The  great  navigator  dies 
in  innocent  ignorance  of  the  fact 
that  he  has  discovered  a  continent. 
H  Without  love  the  world  would 
only  echo  cries  of  pain,  the  sun 
would  only  shine  to  show  us  grief, 
each  rustle  of  the  leaf  would  be  a 
sigh  and  all  the  flowers  only  fit  to 
garland  graves. 

CL  The  thought  of  the  love  of  God 
cannot  be  grasped  in  the  slightest 
degree,  even  as  a  working  hypothe- 
sis, by  a  man  who  does  not  know 
human  love. 

ft  A  man  who  puts  himself  in  a  bad 
light,  caring  not  a  fig  for  our  appro- 
bation or  censure,  is  no  sham. 
ftMediocrity  always  fears  when  the 
ghost  of  genius  does  not  down  at  its 
bidding  j^j^&^a^ 


wecannotreach;the 
present  only  is  ours.  Each  day's  work  is  a 
preparation  for  the  next. 
Live  in  the  present — the  Day  is  here,  the 
time  is  Now. 

There  is  only  one  thing  worth  praying  for — 
to  be  in  the  line  of  Evolution. 


pie  reason  that  the 
insurance  companies  decline  to  do  business 
with  farmers.  Last  week  I  was  shown  a  cir- 
cular letter  sent  out  by  "The  Agriculturist 
Insurance  Company,"  of  Watertown,  N.  Y., 
wherein  its  agents  were  ordered  to  write  no 
more  policies  on  farm  property  under  any 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  61 


consideration;  and  the  anomaly  comes  in 
when  we  consider  that  this  company  was 
organized  in  1866  for  the  special  purpose  of 
insuring  agriculturists  against  loss  by  fire. 
C  Yes,  the  farmers  around  East  Aurora  are 


one  around  the  Shop  does,  because  that  is 
not  my  name.  It  all  happened  when  a  man 
from  Buffalo  drove  up  in  a  fine  buggy  and 
seeing  me  running  the  lawn-mower,  called, 
"~  say,  John,  you — hold  my  horse  a  minqte!' 


poor.  To  a  great  degree  they  are  reduced  to  CL I  went  over  and  held  the  horse.  The  man 

a  state  of  trade  and  barter;  and  cold  cash  is  went  inside  and  asked  for  Fra  Elbertus. 

a  thing  that  seldom  gladdens  their  eyes.  A  C"That  's  him  out  there  holding  your 
year  ago  should  you   r                ■  n  - 

ES,  this  we  all  know:  all 
of  man's  handiwork  that 
finds  form  in  beauty  has 
its  rise  in  the  loves  of 
men  and  women.  Love  is 


have  tramped  with 
me  across  an  East 
Aurora  farm  you 
would  have  said  that 
the  chief  crop  was 
bowlders. 
This  is  not  quite  so 
much  so  as  it  was. 
C  And  this  is  why: 
When  we  built  our 
big  fireplace  in  the 
new  Shop  out  of 
bowlders,  the  result 
was  so  pleasing  that 
I  just  said  to  Billy 
Kelly,  who  did  most 
of  the  work,  "Billy, 
this  Shop  is  getting 
too  small  for  our 
force;  let 's  put  up 
an  entire  building 
of  field  stones.  Will 
you  stand  by?" 

I  '11  not  only  stand 
by  for  a  year  or  two, 
but  I  '11  stick  by  the 
Roycroft  Shop  un- 
til I  die  of  old  age," 
solemnly  answered 
Billy. 

Now  Billy  Kelly  is 
one  of  the  few  men 
in  this  world  whom 
I  know,  who  speak 
the  truth.  Sammy  is 
possessed  of  a  trop- 
ical imagination,  the 
Red  One  often  in- 
dulges in  fancy's  flight,  and  Ali  Baba  is  an 
awful  liar.  But  Billy  Kelly  is  truthful. 
"John,"  said  Billy,  "you  draw  the  plans, 
and  give  me  the  boys,  and  we  '11  put  up  that 
building." 

Billy  always  calls  me  "John"— 'most  every 


vital,  love  is  creative,  love  is  crea- 
tion. It  is  love  that  shapes  the  plas- 
tic clay  into  forms  divinely  fair; 
love  carves  all  statues,  writes  all 
poems,  paints  all  canvases  that  glo- 
rify the  walls  where  color  revels, 
sings  all  the  songs  that  enchant  our 
ears.^^.^b*^,^^^^^^^^^ 
C  Great  men  are  ever  lonely  and  live 
apart,  but  birds  of  a  feather  flock 
together  because  they  are  afraid  to 
flock  alone.  They  want  warmth  and 
protection.  Fear  and  the  herding  in- 
stinct are  closely  related. 
C  How  else  can  we  reach  heaven 
save  through  love?  Who  ever  had  a 
glimpse  of  the  glories  that  lie  be- 
yond the  golden  portals  save  in  lov- 
ing moments? 

CTo  lovers  all  things  are  of  equal 
importance,  and  this  is  the  highest 
sanity. 


horse!"  was  the  re- 
ply. But  never  mind 
that.  We  were  talk- 
ing about  Billy  Kel- 
ly &  the  new  build- 
ing to  be  made  out 
ofbowlders.C'Put 
'er  there,  John," 
says  Billy. 
So  we  shook  hands 
on  it;  and  straight- 
way I  wrote  an  ad- 
vertisement to  in- 
sert in  the  Blizzard, 
offering  one  dollar 
a  load  for  bowlders. 
The  next  morning 
after  that  advertise- 
ment appeared  the 
stones  began  to  ar- 
rive. 

The  second  morn- 
ing there  was  a  pro- 
cession of  loads,  & 
wagons  loaded  with 
bowlders  were  seen 
comingto  town  from 
all  directions.  Most 
of  the  farmers  were 
suspicious  &  insist- 
ed on  having  their 
money  on  the  spot; 
so  Baba  was  pro- 
vided with  a  shot 
bagofsilverdollars, 
and  to  each  man  he 
gave  his  due.  The 
Baba  also  availed 
himself  of  the  buy- 
er's privilege,  and  rubbed  a  little  good  advice 
into  the  farmers  as  to  the  advantage  of  giving 
honest  measure  and  providing  good  stones. 
One  man  caught  bringing  shale  was  well 
damned,  and  pointed,  personal,  derogatory 
remarks  were  made  concerning  his  ancestry. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  62 


C  But  every  day  the  stones  arrived  and  Ali 
Baba  was  kept  busy  as  a  black  ant,  inspect- 
ing the  goods,  and  holding  the  agrarians  up 
to  quality  and  quantity. 
No  crops  were  being  planted — every  one  was 
hauling  stone.  "I  alius  heard  John  was  a  bit 
off,"  said  one  farmer,  "an'  now  I  know  it." 
C  And  this  man  made  hot  haste  to  move  his 
crop  to  market  ere 


"John"  was  declar- 
ed dangerous  and 
locked  up. 
The  farmers  hauled 
stones. 

They  hauled  fifteen 
hundred  and  forty- 
seven  loads,  &  that 
was  all  the  stones 
they  could  afford  to 
haul  at  a  dollar  a 
load.  It  was  all  the 
stones  that  lay  with- 
in the  dollar  limit, 
whichwastwomiles 
from  town.  Three 
or  four  loads  a  day 
they  could  bring  if 
the  distance  was  not 
over  two  miles,  but 
when  stones  got  so 
scarce  that  they  had 
to  be  hauled,  say, 
three  miles.thentwo 
loads  were  consid- 
ered a  day's  work. 
ii  The  next  person 
who  buys  bowlders 
in  East  Aurora  will 
have  to  pay  two  dol- 
lars a  load— I  have 
bulled  the  market 
on  niggerheads. 
Bowlders  come  in 
limited  editions,and 
Ali  Baba  says  it  will 
be  at  least  twenty 
years  before  anoth- 
er crop  can  be  grown,  C  In  the  meantime, 
with  the  help  of  the  "boys,"  which  means 
the  printers  and  artists,  working  odd  hours, 
Billy  Kelly  has  erected  a  beautiful  building 
from  the  field  stones— the  stones  rejected 
of  men.  Billy  and  the  boys  did  n't  do  quite 


all  the  work  alone  — they  had  some  help 
from  the  gang  that  hangs  around  the  station, 
but  all  the  printers  had  a  hand  in  it. 
Beside  having  enough  bowlders  for  the  Li- 
brary building,  just  completed,  we  have 
enough  hardheads  to  make  the  Roycroft 
Phalanstery. 

The  plans  are  all  completed,  and  Billy  and 
the  boys  began  on 

will  doubtless  be 


HERE 

a  certain  general  mental 
drift  or  tendency  in  a 
thinker,  but  until  one 
abandons  his  reason,  and 
barters  his  birthright  for  a  mess  of 
assuring  pottage,  his  belief  is  in  a 
state  of  flux,  and  sedimentation  does 
not  take  place.  It  is  a  low  grade  of 
intellect  that  expects  to  corral  truth 
in  a  "scheme"  or  to  hold  it  secure 
in  a  "system." 

<T  Man,  wise  as  he  is,  and  pluming 
himself  on  his  ability  to  defeat  his 
fellows,  cannot  with  impunity  play 
his  tricksy  games  with  God. 
CTo  succeed  get  ahold,  and  hang 
on  —  inertia  is  often  as  good  as  en- 
terprise. In  nature  it  is  the  parasite 
that  grows  fat. 

C  There  are  many  deeply  religious 
people  outside  the  church,  but  those 
inside  usually  call  them  infidels. 
C  How  sharper  than  a  serpent's 
tooth  is  a  thankless  parent! 
C  An  ounce  of  performance  is  worth 
a  pound  of  preachment 


the  foundation  last 
week. 

T^OVEISALL. 

illri  '  say  t0  you 
¥Mm  that  man  has 

not  sufficient  ima- 
gination to  exagger- 
ate the  importance 
of  Love.  It  is  as  high 
as  the  heavens,  as 
deep  as  hell,  as  su- 
blime as  the  stars 
and  great  as  the  gal- 
axy of  worlds  that 
fade  on  our  feeble 
vision  into  mere 
milky  ways. 
Love  holds  within 
her  ample  space  all 
wrecks,  all  ruins,  all 
grief,  all  tears;  and 
all  the  smiles,  and 
sunshine  &  beauty 
that  mortals  know 
are  each  and  all  her 
priceless  gifts,  and 
hers  alone. 
God  of  all  Mercy, 
whosenameisLove! 
Look  Thou  upon  us 
and  in  pity  pluck 
from  our  hearts  that 
deep  rooted  unbe- 
lief, and  that  mir- 
ing uncleanness  of 
thought  that  causes 
us  yet  as  a  people 
to  learn  from  the  lips  of  vice  and  stupid 
ignorance  our  knowledge  of  the  most  vital 
and  profound  and  potential  of  all  faculties! 
Through  love  —  for  there  is  no  other  way  — 
lead  us  back  to  love  and  light,  so  that  like 
the  flowers,  the  tendrils  of  our  hearts  may 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  63 


draw  from  Thee  those  delicate  perfumes  of 
inspiration  and  rich  harmonies  of  color  that 
alone  give  beauty  and  proportion  to  our 
thoughts  and  acts.  We  have  wandered  far, 
but  hearken  Thou  to  us,  for  we  thirst  and 
are  never  quenched,  our  hearts  hunger  and 
are  never  satisfied,  we  cry  and  the  heavens 
are  but  brass!  God  of  Mercy,  we  beseech 
of  Thee  to  hear  us, 


doubt  whether  there  are 
any  attorneys  in  heaven,  it 
is  a  fact  that  there  is  one 
lawyer  in  the  Calendar  of 
Saints — St.  Yves  of  Brittany.  Lecky, 
the  historian,  tells  how  when  the 
peasants  celebrate  the  feast  of  St. 
Yves  they  sing:  Advocatus  et  non 
latro — Res  miranda  populo. 

Men  judge  women  by  those  with 
whom  they  have  been  most  intimate. 


and  in  pity  bring  us 
back,  through  love, 
to  Thee! 

MfSTUDY  IN 
|H  BROWN.  On 
ISMtheLakeShore 
Railroad,  Train  No. 
32  leaves  Toledo  at 
8.50  a.  m.  and  ar- 
rives at  Cleveland 
at  11.25,  stopping  at 
Sandusky  and  Ely- 
ria.  The  distance  is 
one  hundred  and 
eleven  miles. 
Laylander  took  this 
train,  he  told  me,  on  the  morning  of  July 
23rd,  1900.  This  train,  known  as  "The  Fast 
Mail,"  is  made  up  of  a  dozen  mail  cars  and 
one  passenger  coach  at  the  end.  Formerly 
the  entire  train  was  made  up  of  mail  cars 
alone,  but  the  traveling  public  importuned 
the  management  until  the  one  coach  was 
added,  this  as  a  matter  of  accommodation. 
The  train  making  very  fast  time,  this  one 
coach  is  naturally  well  filled  by  people  who 
wish  to  arrive. 

On  the  occasion  mentioned,  nearly  every 
seat  was  taken.  Back  by  the  door  on  the 
obsolete  wood  box,  now  used  as  a  receptacle 
for  the  trainmen's  lanterns,  sat  a  solitary 
woman. 

This  woman  was  an  Arrangement  in  Brown, 
her  dress  being  a  dark  brown,  her  waist  of 
a  lighter  shade  of  brown,  the  veil  matched 
the  skirt;  and  upon  her  wide  brimmed  hat 
was  a  drooping  melancholy  ostrich  feather 
of  a  shade  that  matched  the  waist.  To  com- 
plete the  costume  there  were  brown  gloves 
of  undressed  kid.  It  was  a  chromatic  ensem- 
ble worthy  of  Sammy  the  Artist. 
Laylander  entered  the  coach  just  as  the  train 
was  pulling  out,  and  meditatively  walked  the 


length  of  the  car  looking  for  a  vacant  seat. 
Laylander  is  big,  towsled,  homely,  awkward, 
but  carries  a  look  of  power  and  intelligence 
that  only  the  Discerning  detect.  The  Vision 
in  Brown  on  the  wood  box,  at  the  extreme 
corner,  half  caught  Laylander's  attention, 
but  made  no  special  impression.  He  walked 
on  down  toward  the  wood  box,  crowned  with 
-  .  its  precious  freight. 

HILE  there  is  a  grave 


As  none  of  the  per- 
sons sitting  alone  in 
the  seats  offered  to 
push  over  and  wel- 
come a  stranger,  he 
moved  on  in  a  sort 
of  brown  study  to- 
ward the  Study 
in  Brown,  growing 
more  &  more  aware 
of  the  Presence  with 
each  step;  still,  he 
did  not  look  toward 
the  lady  —  he  was 
just  aware  she  was 
there,  that 's  all. 
He  intended  to  go 
through  to  the  rear  door,  make  a  bluff  at 
getting  a  drink  of  water,  then  turn  back  and 
make  one  of  the  swine  move  over. 
Just  before  he  reached  the  water-cooler,  a 
brakeman  pushed  in  ahead  of  him,  and  said 
in  a  brakeman's  guttural,  meant  to  be  kind, 
"Here,  Lady — I  have  a  seat  for  you — this 
way,  please — is  this  your  grip?" 
The  lady  half  smiled,  but  did  not  move. 
Then  she  said  in  a  quiet  but  perfectly  audi- 
ble voice,  "No,  that  valise  is  not  mine.  I  am 
very  comfortable  here.  I  am  holding  this  seat 
—  holding  it  for  my  friend!"  and  she  looked 
straight  into  the  eyes  of  Laylander,  who  was 
vulcanizing  in  a  way  that  might  have  been 
regarded  as  rude,  attracted  by  the  drooping, 
melancholy  ostrich  feather,  and  the  sweetest 
voice  he  had  ever  heard. 
The  lady  smiled,  and  the  lines  around  Lay- 
lander's  mouth  grew  tight  in  an  attempt  to 
meet  his  vis-a-vis  half  way.  She  made  a  mo- 
tion to  draw  her  skirts  close,  so  as  to  make 
room  on  the  wood  box.  Laylander  removed 
his  hat  like  a  wooden  automaton,  wondering 
where  he  had  ever  met  this  woman  before. 
CLHe  sat  down  but  did  n't  say  anything, 
because  there  was  really  nothing  to  say. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  64 


CIThe  woman  was  a  superb  creature.  Lay- 
lander  had  taken  that  all  in;  she  was  an 
aristocrat  from  the  toe  of  her  flat-heeled, 
broad-soled  English  shoe  to  the  tip  of  the 
drooping  melancholy  feather.  She  was  such 
a  thorough  aristocrat  that  she  was  also  a 
thorough  democrat. 

The  sweat  was  beginning  to  stand  out  on 
Laylander,  and  he 


was  going  to  make 
some  remark  about 
the  weather,  when 
the  low  and  gentle 
voice  said,  semi- 
confidentially,  "We 
have  never  met  be- 
fore, so  do  not  try 
to  locate  me.  If  we 
had  ever  seen  each 
other  before  this  we 
would  not  have  to 
strive  to  remember 
the  event.  Do  you 
like  Maeterlinck?" 
CNow  it  so  hap- 
pened that  Laylan- 
der was  charged  with  Maeterlinck  to  the 
point  of  saturation.  He  said,  "Why,  good- 
ness, yes!" 

Then  they  talked  of  Maeterlinck. 
"He  is  as  universal  as  Whitman,  only  Whit- 
man is  never  pierced  by  the  world-sorrow. 
Whitman  is  so  full  of  courage  that  it  gives 
one  courage  to  read  him,  yet  Maeterlinck  is 
more  subtle,"  said  the  lady. 
"Ah,  yes!  Whitman  is  masculine,  while 
Maeterlinck  is  evidently  the  son  of  his  moth- 
er. His  best  characteristics  are  distinctly 
feminine  —  he  is  like  Frederick  Nietsche." 
CThen  the  lady  confirmed  Laylander's 
statement  by  a  quotation  from  Nietsche,  and 
reaching  into  a  brown-trimmed  Boston  bag, 
which  she  held  in  her  hands,  she  drew  forth 
Nietsche's  last  book  of  essays,  and  read  half 
a  page  aloud,  leaning  over  toward  the  big 
Laylander.  This  reminded  Laylander  of 
something  in  Ibsen's  Ghosts,  and  he  drew 
the  book  out  of  the  side  pocket  of  his  coat. 
CThen  they  conversed  — "communed"  is 
the  word  Laylander  used  in  telling  me  about 
it — communed  concerning  the  philosophy 
of  Whitman,  Nietsche  and  Maeterlinck. 
"  This,  I  think,  is  Sandusky,"  said  Laylander, 


peering  out  of  the  window. C  "Oh,  no,  we 
stopped  for  five  minutes  at  Sandusky  — it 
must  have  been  over  an  hour  ago.  We  are 
just  running  into  the  Cleveland  Union  Sta- 
tion—this is  where  I  get  off." 
The  train  stopped. 

Laylander  took  the  Boston  bag  and  followed 
down  the  aisle.  €L  He  walked  dumbly  by  the 
.  lady's  side  to  the  en- 

OVbRo  are  hopelessly 


given  over  to  mysteries 
and  secrecy,  to  signs  and 
omens  and  portents;  they 
carry  meaning  further  and 
spin  out  the  thread  of  suggestion  to 
a  fineness  that  scowling  philoso- 
phers can  never  follow. 
C  You  can  lead  a  boy  to  college,  but 
you  cannot  make  him  think. 
C  I  love  you  because  you  love  the 
things  that  I  love 


trance  of  the  wait- 
ing-room. 

Then  they  paused 
there  and  looked  at 
each  other  for  just 
an  instant. 
Laylanderquitefor- 
got  to  hand  the  lady 
her  property  —  he 
stood  clutching  the 
Boston  bag  in  both 
hands  as  if  it  might 
fly  away. 

She  gently  took  it 
from  him  with  one 
hand,  and  liftingher 
brown  veil  with  the 
other,  said  softly,  "I  do  not  know  your  name 
—  I  do  not  wish  to.  You  do  not  know  mine. 
Let  it  remain  so.  Probably  we  shall  never 
meet  again.  You  may  kiss  me  if  you  wish," 
and  she  stepped  close  and  stood  on  tiptoe. 

(TraflHO  ARE  THE  HEATHEN?  "Every 
Writ  ren2ion  began  simply  as  a  matter  of 
maM  reason,"  says  Max  Muller,  "and  from 
this  drifted  into  a  superstition."  Without  the 
basis  of  reason  on  which  to  build,  the  super- 
stition could  not  exist.  But  it  is  the  history 
of  all  religions  that  the  ignorant,  led  on  by 
the  designing,  use  the  language  of  hyperbole, 
poesy  and  symbolism  as  if  they  designated 
concrete  things.  When  this  is  done  you  have 
a  superstition.  It  is  the  simplest  evolution, 
and  the  sternest,  truest,  most  undeniable,  in 
all  the  world  of  thought — this  thing  of  trans- 
forming a  poetic  figure  into  a  literal  fact. 
"Figurative  language  is  the  bulwark  of  the 
Church,"  said  John  Wesley.  This  accounts 
for  the  fact  that  in  all  religions  there  are 
many  men  who  represent  a  high  order  of 
intelligence:  and  their  belief  is  made  tenable 
only  by  placing  a  mystic  and  poetic  construc- 
tion upon  the  creed.  Priests,  of  course,  are 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  65 


often  caught  in  the  mesh  of  superstition,  but 
those  of  the  first  grade  in  every  land  have 
an  Esoteric  Truth  for  themselves,  and  leave 
the  gross  fact  for  their  followers. 
Religions  are  many  and  diverse,  but  reason 
and  goodness  are  one.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  prophet  and  seer  to  sound  this  truth  again 
and  yet  again,  lest  religion  degenerate  com- 
pletely into  fetich, 

HAT  parent  only  is  doing 


and  the  dervish  take 
theplaceofthedoer. 
C,  A  few  weeks  ago 
I  met  a  bishop  of  the 
Episcopal  Church 
who  seriously  ar- 
gued that  my  posi- 
tion outside  The 
Church"  was  pre- 
posterous, I  belong- 
ed inside.  "Why," 
said  he,  "you  be- 
lieve not  only  that 
one  man  was  Divine 
but  that  all  men  are; 
and  all  of  our  creed 
you  hold  as  poetic 
truth.  And  this  you 
have  a  perfect  right 
to  do  inside  of  the 
Church,  only  it  is 
absurd  to  be  getting 
yourself  misunder- 
stood by  expressing 
things  that  are  be- 
yond the  average  in- 
tellectual grasp.  If 
there  is  any  trouble 
with  your  faith  it  is 
in  that  you  believe 
too  much.  Now  be 
diplomatic  and  sen- 
sible and  cease  to 
fight  &  antagonize. 
Come  home,  find 

companionship  in  the  Church  and  peace  for 
your  soul.  And  if  you  think  that  churchly 
honors  will  be  a  satisfaction  to  you  it  can 
all  be  arranged." 

One  point  in  the  bishop's  plea  is  worth  our 
while  and  that  is  that  the  heretic  is  a  man 
with  faith  plus.  The  heresy  head-hunters  are 
a  very  stupid  lot,  and  any  man  who  has 
staked  his  life  on  a  belief  in  the  love  of  God 


his  whole  duty  who  is 
training  the  child  to  do 
without  him;  and  herein 
nature  and  necessity  are 
usually  wiser  than  fortune's  favorites. 
H  As  the  second  commandment  was 
the  death  of  Art  for  a  thousand  years, 
so  has  the  forced  servility  of  woman 
held  civilization  in  thrall  to  a  degree 
that  no  man  can  compute. 
<L  "Vengeance  is  mine  and  I  will 
repay,"  saith  the  Lord,  and  others. 
The  others  think  the  Lord  needs 
an  instrument,  and  they  volunteer 
to  be  it. 

CYou  cannot  legislate  virtue  into 
people.  There  is  no  man  ever  any 
better  than  he  wants  to  be. 
CThe  true  work  of  all  governments 
is  to  do  away  with  the  necessity  of 
any  government. 

C  Those  who  do  most  in  the  world 
are  those  who  love  most. 


and  placed  no  limit  on  the  mercy  of  the 
Unseen  has  ever  been  game  for  the  theolog- 
ical Rough  Riders. 

The  matter  of  martyrdom  in  the  good  old 
days  agone  (and  the  best  that  can  be  said  of 
them  is  that  they  are  gone)  was  only  a  huge 
misunderstanding.  And  the  tragic  joke  of  it 
all  lies  in  the  fact  that  persecutor  and  mar- 
tyr are  cut  from  the 
same  piece.  The  two 
were  good  men,  but 
they  were  lacking  in 
humor.  The  perse- 
cutors and  martyrs 
have  zeal  in  excess, 
&  they  have  surely 
supplied  the  Great 
Aristophanes  of 
Heaven  many  a 
laugh  by  the  quick 
changes  in  which 
they  have  traded 
places  in  the  stocks 
&  upon  the  gallows. 
CThe  foregoing  re- 
marks were  suggest- 
ed by  an  Associated 
Press  Dispatch  stat- 
ing that  two  Zion- 
ist missionaries  sent 
out  by  Rev.  John 
Alex.  Dowie  of  Chi- 
cago were  mobbed 
at  Mansfield,  Ohio. 
Later  I  had  the  feli- 
city of  interviewing 
one  of  these  mis- 
sionaries who  gave 
his  story,  with  full 
details  as  to  times 
and  places. 
He  was  caught  by 
the  mob,  stripped, 
decorated  with  pea- 
green  paint,  and  then  chased  by  sundry 
citizens,  male  and  female,  who  carried  peach- 
sprout  switches  that  they  used  with  unction. 
These  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Mansfield, 
Ohio,  who  chased  the  missionary,  were 
Baptists,  Methodists  and  Presbyterians.  The 
Chicago  Zionites  had  simply  encroached  on 
their  preserve,  and  they  arose,  and  resented 
the  intrusion  with  a  "righteous  indignation." 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  66 


The  Catholics  feel  too  sure  to  be  troubled  by 
small  fry  like  our  friend  Dowie,  and  the  in- 
fidels, including  Universalists  and  Unitari- 
ans, for  the  most  part  do  not  care  a  dam.  So 
it  was  left  for  the  chaste  Dowieites  to  be 
hand-illumined  and  chased  by  the  folks  who 
are  very  much  of  their  own  kidney.  That  is 
to  say,  they  were  all  chasers  and  chasees, 
firm  believers  in  the 


dogma  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  never  had 
but  one  parent,  and 
furthermore,  these 
people  hold  that  a 
belief  in  this  vagary 
is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  save  us  from 
eternal  damnation. 
i  This  brings  us  up 
to  the  "Society  of 
the  Sanctified  and 
Righteous  Fist," 
which  we  translate 
in  our  terse  &  idio- 
matic way  into  "The 
Boxers."The  inspi- 
ration of  this  society 
is  religious  zeal,  re- 
inforced by  patriot- 
ism, both  of  which 
have  served  as  the 
last  refuge  for  all  the 
really  great  scound- 
rels who  have  ever 
lived.  We  meet  the 
Boxers,  in  turn,  by 
religious  zeal,  back- 
ed up  with  patriot- 
ism. We  love  our 
religion  &  our  coun- 
try, and  so  do  they, 
and  so  we  fight. 
In  China  there  are 
three  religions  rec- 
ognized by  the  State:  Confucianism,  Taoism 
and  Buddhism.  Confucius  lived  about  five 
hundred  years  before  Christ.  He  was  not 
the  originator  of  the  doctrines  he  taught  and 
distinctly  protests,  repeatedly,  against  any 
such  assumption.  To  call  him  the  founder  of 
a  religion  would  be  like  calling  Tolstoy  the 
originator  of  Christianity  —  both  are  merely 
interpreters.  Confucius  gathered  together 


the  best  that  was  in  antiquity  in  way  of  phi- 
losophy and  ethics  and  applied  this  philoso- 
phy to  life.  He  studiously  avoids  all  refer- 
ence to  the  existence  and  attributes  of  the 
Divine,  but  merely  states  what  he  believes 
is  best  to  do  while  here. 
The  word  Confucius  or  Kung-fu-tse  means 
"The  Holy  Master"  or  "The  Exalted  One"; 

the  real  name  of  the 

T  is  a  great  man  who,  when 


he  finds  he  has  come  out 
at  the  little  end  of  the 
horn,  simply  appropriates 
the  horn  and  blows  it  for- 

evermore 

C  He  who  will  not  accept  orders  has 
no  right  to  give  them;  he  who  will 
not  serve  has  no  right  to  command; 
he  who  cannot  keep  silence  has  no 
right  to  speak. 

ii  What  is  the  good  of  eternally  dis- 
cussing the  Future?  If  God  is  or  is 
not,  we  are  bound  to  keep  doing  the 
best  we  can,  one  day  at  a  time,  just 
the  same 

41  Even  impressionable  women  do 
not  find  it  hard  to  resist  temptation 
when  offered  by  the  wrong  man  at 
an  inopportune  time. 
C  The  charm  of  reading  is  in  the 
recognition  of  what  we  know. 
<!  Positive  anything  is  better  than 
negative  nothing 


man  himself  is  lost 
in  the  mist.  Confu- 
cius has  often  been 
likened  to  Socrates, 
but  in  fact  is  a  com- 
bination of  Socrates 
and  Moses,  for  he 
founded  a  minute 
ritual  &  made  many 
rules  for  the  con- 
duct of  our  lives. 
He  was  guided  by 
the  "Voice,"  just  as 
Socrates  was  by  his 
"Demon  "or  Moses 
by  the  "Lord."  All 
of  which  means  pro- 
bably nothing  else 
than  that  there  is  a 
something  in  each 
man's  heart  which 
tells  him  what  is 
right  and  what  not. 
All  Quaker  mothers 
ask  their  little  chil- 
dren, when  a  ques- 
tion of  conduct  ari- 
ses, "What  does  the 
Voice  say,  Dear?" 
The  child  pauses, 
considers  &  knows 
what  is  right. 
Dr.  Paul  Carus  has 
said  that  all  the  Mo- 
saic laws  are  simply 
sanitary,  and  he  has  further  stated  that  Moses 
was  merely  endeavoring  to  lead  his  people 
out  of  captivity  into  physical  and  mental 
freedom.  He  died  before  his  experiment 
had  developed  very  far,  and  his  followers 
built  up  a  superstition  on  his  life  and  works. 
H  Confucius  said  "To  understand  yourself 
is  the  key  to  wisdom."  Confucius  was  essen- 
tially an  individualist,  as  all  wise  men  are 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  67 


and  ever  have  been.  Once  one  of  his  followers 
asked  Confucius  what  he  should  do  in  a  cer- 
tain vexed  situation.  "Do  unto  others  as  you 
would  have  them  do  to  you,"  was  the  reply. 
<T  Contemporary  with  Confucius  is  Lao-tze 
who  taught  of  the  Tao,  which  means  the 
Way.  The  word  has  a  peculiar  metaphysical 
meaning  and  really  has  no  equivalent  in 
English.  Tao  repre- 
sents theFirstCause 
or  Guiding  Princi- 
ple of  life,  and  is 
the  good  angel  that 
carries  the  lamp  and 
points  us  the  path- 
way we  should  fol- 
low. The  thought  is 
extremely  poetic,  & 
symbols  all  we  can 
read  into  it.  But  that 
there  is  one  best  way 
to  live— all  agree. 
There  is  the  right 
and  the  wrong,  and 
Tao  will  lead  aright 
if  we  will  become  as 
little  children,  cease 
all  violence  of  direc- 
tion and  have  faith 
in  the  good.  It  seems 
impossible  that  Je- 
sus did  not  know  of 
the  doctrine  of  Tao, 
for  he  calls  Himself 
the  Way  and  uses 
again  and  again  the 
thought  of  simplici- 
ty, gentleness  and 
peace,  and  his  phil- 
osophy of  unselfish- 
ness is  one  with  the 
life  and  thought  of 
Lao-tze.  "I  repre- 
sent the  Way,  the 

Truth  and  the  Life,"  said  Lao-tze.  C  Tao 
was  originally  simply  a  religion  of  reason  — 
it  taught  the  better  way.  But  upon  the  poetic 
expressions  of  Lao-tze  priests  built  a  fabric, 
just  as  Renan  avers  that  Paul  established  a 
church  on  the  fervent  sayings  of  Jesus.  Paul 
was  the  founder  of  the  Christian  Church, 
not  Jesus;  but  the  orthodox  faith  was  not 
complete  until  we  had  Dante  and  Milton. 


C  In  the  first  century  after  Christ,  Buddhism 
was  introduced.  The  Emperor  Ming-ti  offici- 
ally recognized  it  as  the  third  state  religion, 
and  since  his  time  the  reigning  Emperor  has 
regularly  been  present  once  a  year  in  the 
temples  of  Confucianists,  Taoists  and  Buddh- 
ists. In  fact  the  Emperor  officially  believes 
in  each  of  the  three  religions,  just  as  the 
Ruler  of  England  is 


AKE  my  word  for  it,  Char- 
lie, the  man  pushing  a 
wheelbarrow  is  just  as 
happy  as  the  man  riding 
in  the  automobile — he  has 
just  as  good  a  digestion,  sleeps  as 
well,  and  will  live  as  long.  God 
equalizes  all  things,  and  if  you  get 
off  a  way,  so  as  to  get  the  perspec- 
tive, you  will  see  everything  is  of 
one  size. 

C  Do  not  stop  to  think  about  who  are 
with  you,  and  what  men  are  against 
you.  It  matters  little  at  the  last  — 
both  the  ability  to  harm  and  the 
ability  to  help  are  overestimated. 
CThe  only  way  you  can  get  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  to  carry  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven  in  your  heart. 
C  People  who  profess  to  love  their 
enemies  are  apt  to  hold  averages 
good  by  hating  their  friends. 
C  Gentleness  and  good  cheer — these 
come  before  all  questions  of  morals. 


a  Presbyterian  in 
Scotland  &  an  Epis- 
copalian when  he 
returns  to  England. 
C  Buddhism  at  the 
base  stands  for  gen- 
tleness, kindness, 
earnestseekingafter 
light  and  all  that  is 
just  and  right.  It  also 
teaches  the  sacred- 
ness  of  life,  so  that 
a  good  Buddhist  is 
both  a  vegetarian  & 
an  abstainer  from 
all  intoxicants.  But 
Buddhism  is  an  ex- 
ceeding complex  & 
intricate  affair  to  ex- 
plain, quite  as  com- 
plex as  Christiani- 
ty. Christianity  em- 
braces over  a  hun- 
dred recognized  de- 
nominations, some 
of  which  insist  on 
decoratingmembers 
of  rival  sects  with 
green  paint.  In  fact, 
I  myself  believe  in 
the  teachings  of  the 
Christ  most  thor- 
oughly, yet  the  ex- 
pressed thought  that 
I  am  a  follower  of 
Christ  would  be  met  with  howls  of  derision 
by  most  of  my  respectable  neighbors  and 
also  down  the  creek  as  far  as  Ebenezer.  Yet 
it  is  a  grain  of  satisfaction  to  me  to  remember 
that  Christ  was  not  a  Christian;  for  St.  Paul, 
Dante  &  Milton  were,  in  his  day,  yet  to  come. 
CBut  the  different  kinds  of  Buddhists  in 
India  and  China  live  on  very  good  terms. 
C,To  make  this  fact  plain  it  should  be  stated 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  68 


our  Christ  as  one  who  taught  their  gospel.  In 
other  words  they  claim  Christ  as  a  Buddhist. 
C  Converts  to  any  new  religion,  or  phase  of 
religion,  are  necessarily  men  who  know  little 
of  the  history  of  religions.  Men  who  know 
all  religions  have  small  faith  in  any.  All  the 
great  religions  had  a  little  beginning.  A  man 
of  power  stands  out  from  the  world,  regard- 
less of  precedent 

ATU  RE  showed  great  wis- 
dom in  sending  the  young 
in  litters:  when  she  cut 
down  to  one,  she  lapsed. 
The  other  day  I  saw  three 
lion  cubs  with  their  mother.  The 
way  those  cubs  wrestled  with  each 


that  when  the  Nestorian  Christians  visited 
China  in  the  Seventh  Century  they  were 
greeted  by  Buddhists,  Taoists  and  Confu- 
cians as  the  "Glorious  Teachers,"  and  all 
began  to  compare  the  similarity  of  their 
basic  principles. 

So  this  happy  condition  continued  until  the 
beginning  of  the  Ninth  Century,  when  the 
Nestorians  had  be- 
come strong  and  es- 
tablished many  con- 
vents. They  owned 
much  property  and 
occasionally  came 
into  collision  with 
the  Buddhists  who 
trespassed  on  their 
rights.In  some  cases 
bands  of  men,  sort 
of  paid  Pinkertons, 
were  hired  by  the 
different  religionsto 
protecttheirtemples 
from  intruders.  The 
Confucians  armed 
also,  very  much  as 
England  now  buys 
two  war  ships  when- 
ever Russia  orders 
one.  So  in  the  year 
841  the  Emperor 
Wutung  issued  his 
notorious  edict  ab- 
olishing all  Buddh- 
ists and  Christian 
Convents  in  China. 
The  Protestant  Bar- 
onsinEnglandmade 
the  Catholic  Monks 
go  out  in  exactly  the 
same  way,  in  the 
Fourteenth  Centu- 
ry Jfl  So  the  Chris- 
tians and  Buddhists 
had  to  go  from  China,  and  Marco  Polo,  who 
traversed  China  about  the  year  1270,  says  he 
found  not  a  single  Christian  on  his  travels. 
But  he  did  find  that  the  Buddhists,  who  had 
slowly  returned  to  China,  knew  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  and  held  Him  in  great  esteem, 
speaking  of  Him  as  a  "Budh"  or  a  reincar- 
nation of  Buddha.  And  so  it  is  to  this  day — 
all  the  higher  sects  of  Buddhism  recognize 


other,  lay  in  wait,  charged,  sprang 
and  tumbled,  was  wonderful.  Hour 
after  hour  they  kept  up  the  rough- 
house  play.  They  released  enough 
energy  on  each  other  to  turn  a  dy- 
namo. Lucky  for  that  lioness  that 
she  had  three  babies,  and  not  simply 
one.  If  there  had  been  but  one  it 
would  have  required  all  her  time  to 
amuse  the  youngster,  and  he  would 
have  worn  her  nerves  to  a  frazzle. 
As  it  was,  the  cubs  amused  each 
other  and  gave  the  fond  mother  time 
to  meditate  &  think  Great  Thoughts. 
C  The  best  recipe  for  having  strong, 
excellent  and  noble  children  is  to  be 
a  strong,  excellent  and  noble  parent. 


heedless  of  conse- 
quence, and  points 
the  Way.  His  is  a 
religion  of  reason, 
and  he  has  always 
said  in  substance 
that  righteousness 
is  only  a  form  of 
common  sense,  that 
sin  is  folly  and  the 
best  way  to  help 
yourself  is  to  help 
others.  He  has  al- 
ways been  a  man  of 
the  widest  sympa- 
thy &  most  sublime 
charity.  But  he  is 
opposed,  hated,  vil- 
ified and  misunder- 
stood. Stupidity  and 
hypocrisy  confront 
him,  and  he  speaks 
in  bursts  of  fevered 
eloquence — in  par- 
able. He  feels  that 
his  life  is  guided  by 
a  Power  behind  and 
beyond  himself,that 
he  voices  Universal 
Truth.  All  the  truly 
strongmen  feel  their 
kinship  to  the  God- 
head, &  so  express 
themselves.  All  the 
truths  they  utter  are 
never  new— they  are  as  old  as  fate.  But  truth 
is  always  being  corrupted  by  the  ignorant, 
the  selfish  and  the  designing,  and  so  these 
"Prophets,"  "Budhs"  or  "Christs,"  vary- 
ing in  power  and  degree,  are  continually 
coming  to  the  front  and  tearing  away  the 
veil  of  superstition  and  hypocrisy. 
After  they  are  gone,  their  scattered  words 
may  be  seized  upon  by  the  ignorant,  and  a 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  69 


symbolism  is  made  to  stand  for  a  literal  fact, 
and  then  you  have  a  superstition.  Orthodox 
Christianity  is  a  superstition,  and  is  at  once 
recognized  as  such  by  the  wise  men  of  China. 
And  there  are  more  philosophers  pro  rata 
in  China  than  in  America.  The  Pundit  La- 
lana  says  that  in  the  East  there  is  an  Emerson 
every  four  miles.  <L  The  educated  Chinaman 
knows  all  we  know 
and  all  he  himself 
knows  beside.  The 
three  state  religions 
of  China  contain 
every  bit  of  truth 
that  is  to  be  found  in 
Christianity.  Com- 
mercially and  ma- 
terially we  excel  the 
Chinese,  but  this  is 
the  result  of  climate, 
environment  &  con- 
ditions outside  of  all 
religion.  And  trolley 
cars,  long  distance 
telephones,  Maxim 
guns,  electrocution 
chairs,  palace  cars, 
and  Hoe  multiple 
presses  are  the  re- 
sult of  conditions 
absolutely  untouch- 
ed by  the  spirit  of 
the  Man  who  preached  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.C  We  have  all  the  splendid  things  I 
have  enumerated,  but  on  the  other  hand  we 
have  mobs  that  strip  women  of  their  clothing 
on  the  public  street,  we  decorate  Christian 
preachers  with  green  paint,  we  burn  men  at 
the  stake,  or  cut  their  carcasses  into  bits  and 
give  them  to  the  crowds  as  souvenirs.  In 
every  large  city  of  America  no  unarmed  man 
is  safe  at  night;  not  a  day  passes  but  women- 
thugs  rob  men  on  the  public  streets  of  certain 
large  cities  in  daylight;  we  have  poverty, 
vice,  prostitution,  destitution  on  every  hand. 
Half  of  our  population  live  in  the  cities:  the 
spirit  of  Christ  has  small  place  in  our  gov- 
ernment, and  it  is  notorious  that  our  cities 
are  governed  by  the  worst.  Drunkenness 
exists  to  a  degree  the  world  has  never  else- 
where seen,  excepting  in  England  and  Scot- 
land. And  as  it  was  Schlitz  beer  that  made 
Milwaukee  famous,  so  likewise  much  of  the 


wealth  and  prestige  in  many  of  our  cities  was 
secured  by  ministering  to  perverted  appetites. 
C  The  idea  of  such  a  country  as  this,  where 
purity,  honesty  and  truth  are  exceptional, 
sending  missionaries  abroad  is  the  very  acme 
of  bigoted  assumption.  The  missionaries  we 
send  to  China  never  become  citizens  of 
China— not  at  all.  They  are  ever  American, 
TTrnr  .  j     ,  English  or  German, 

HERE  is  a  grave  doubt  as 
to  how  much  civilization 
has  been  benefitted  by 
rulers  and  warriors.  Often 
they  have  made  this  world 
a  place  of  the  skull — not  so  the 
teachers.  It  was  not  a  teacher  who 
smote  agony  untold  to  mother  hearts 
by  an  order  to  destroy  the  first  born. 
It  was  not  a  teacher  who  ordered 
American  soldiers  to  "kill  all  over 
ten  years  of  age." 

«LTo  Nellie  C.:— You  ask  what  I 
consider  my  best  piece  of  writing. 
Answer — The  Mozart  manuscript 


that  I  lost  out  of  the  car  window. 


as  the  case  may  be. 
They  are  "foreign- 
ers" to  the  last  and 
never  come  to  fully 
know  or  sympathize 
with  the  people  they 
are  trying  to  teach. 
The  result  is  they 
only  make  hypo- 
crites or  beggar  at- 
taches— "rice  con- 
verts," as  Lafcadio 
Hearn  points  out  in 
his  interesting  book 
Out  of  the  East.  If 
these  men  wanted 
to  do  good  &  bene- 
fit mankind  there  is 
plenty  of  the  raw 
material  right  here 
at  home;  but  their 
ignorance  makes  of 
them  an  easy  prey 


to  their  zeal,  so  they  go  abroad  to  save  the 
souls  of  the  heathen."  For  the  most  part  the 
Protestant  missionaries  are  a  weakling  lot. 
C.I  am  informed  by  the  Red  One  that  an 
expert  accountant  is  a  bookkeeper  out  of  a 
job.  A  missionary  is  a  preacher  who  has 
failed  to  receive  a  loud  "call"  at  home.  Mis- 
sionaries do  not  go  abroad  to  learn — they  go 
abroad  with  preconceived  ideas  concerning 
the  "heathen,"  full  of  the  fallacy  that  they 
have  the  truth  and  the  heathen  are  without 
it.  To  send  men  to  India  to  learn  and  then 
have  these  men  come  back  and  tell  us  what 
they  learned  would  be  a  wise  move,  but  to 
send  men  across  the  sea  to  unload  their 
ignorance  and  arrogance  is  absurd  and.  is 
bound  to  make  trouble. 
It  must  further  be  noted  that  the  Chinese 
never  harmed  us  in  the  slightest  until  we 
invaded  their  country.  We  exclude  China- 
men from  America  and  yet  we  raise  a  mighty 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  70 


howl  because  they  try  to  exclude  us  from 
China.  And  our  grievance  against  China  now 
is  not  a  matter  of  "the  sacredness  of  life." 
Life  is  not  a  sacred  matter  to  us  at  all.  We 
mow  down  men  with  our  rapid  firing  guns, 
and  then  traverse  the  country,  barnstorming, 
boasting  of  it.  We  show  pictures  of  the  mu- 
tilated and  fallen  by  stereopticon  and  in  our 
newspapers  without 
apparent  shame.We 
have  killed  a  hun- 
dred Chinamen  for 
one  missionary  kill- 
ed by  the  Chinese, 
and  are  so  ruthless 
of  life  that  we  pal- 
liate the  crime  by 
saying  a  missionary 
is  worth  a  hundred 
Chinamen,thusput- 
ting  a  Rialto  value 
upon  souls,  which 
act  only  a  Jugger- 
naut of  blood  could 
justify. 

The  missionaries  as 
a  rule  are  ignorant, 
unsympathetic,  ar- 
rogant: all  fully  con- 
fidentthat  they  have 
a  monopoly  of  truth. 
Their  presence  is 
an  affront  to  a  mild  and  gentle  people.  First 
they  are  tolerated,  then  feared  when  it  is 
seen  that  they  divide  house  against  house 
and  create  factions  and  ill  will.  Between  the 
missionaries  of  different  Christian  denomin- 
ations there  is  ever  strife  and  rivalry.  They 
warn  the  converts  against  other  denomina- 
tions. Some  of  these  missionaries  or  their 
followers  become  traders,  and  commerce 
enters.  Then  come  foreign  soldiers  to  protect 
the  foreign  missionaries  and  foreign  mer- 
chants. Russia  seizes  a  province  to  pay  for 
some  fancied  indemnity;  the  French  take  a 
concession;  the  Germans  a  coaling  station; 
the  English  a  port;  the  Italians  raise  a  row 
because  they  get  nothing,  and  behold  Chinese 
"exclusiveness"  grows  impatient. 
The  poor  heathen  cannot  understand  why 
they  should  not  be  let  alone.  They  see  no 
special  virtue  in  the  pig-eaters  who  come  to 
force  a  religion  on  them  which  seems  no 


improvement  on  the  one  they  have.  So  they 
organize  the  Society  of  Sanctified  Fists  and 
after  long  suffering  riot  breaks  out  and  the 
missionaries  are  either  killed  or  bundled 
back  home. 

"Vengeance  is  mine  and  I  will  repay,"  saith 
the  German  Emperor. 
I  can  see  a  grain  of  excuse  in  the  Boxer 
movement,  but  I  do 
not  find  anything  to 
pardon  in  the  bru- 
tality of  the  Meth- 
odist Bishop  who 
recently  said,  "We 
willChristianizethe 
Chinese,  even  if  it 
takes  a  million  bay- 
onets and  costs  a 
sea  of  blood." 
Altogether  my  sym- 
pathies are  with  the 
Boxers.  They  are 
only  following  the 
exhortation  of  Pitt 
to  us  as  colonists. 
And  I  say  to  all  per- 
sons anxious  to  ben- 
efit mankind: 
Build  over  against 
your  own  house  — 
the  heathen  are  at 
your  door.  Let  him 
who  is  without  sin  cast  stones  at  Chinamen. 

pffjBOVE  THE  RABBLE.  The  Eiffel 
wMm  Tower  is  one  thousand  feet  high;  it  is 
illS  the  highest  structure  in  the  world. 
Next  to  this  comes  the  Washington  monu- 
ment, five  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet.  The 
Great  Pyramid  is  four  hundred  and  eighty 
feet;  the  spire  of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  is  four 
hundred  and  thirty-two  feet. 
There  are  four  elevators  that  run  to  the 
second  landing  of  the  Tower — two  ascend- 
ing and  two  descending.  From  this  point 
there  is  one  running  up  and  one  running 
down.  In  order  to  lessen  vibration  to  the 
structure  and  to  the  vertebrae  of  passengers, 
the  elevators  move  at  the  rate  of  only  one 
hundred  feet  a  minute;  thus  it  takes  ten 
minutes  to  make  the  ascent. 
The  second  landing-place  is  three  hundred 
and  seventy  feet  from  the  ground,  and  this  is 


E  grow  through  expres- 
sion— if  you  know  things 
there  is  a  strong  desire  to 
express  them.  It  is  na- 
ture's way  of  deepening 
our  impressions  —  this  thing  of  re- 
counting them.  And  happy,  indeed, 
are  you  if  you  know  a  soul  with 
whom  you  can  converse  at  your  best. 
C  If  I  were  a  woman,  I  would  culti- 
vate the  fine  art  of  listening.  No 
woman  can  talk  as  interestingly  as 
she  can  look. 

C  The  ostrich's  plan  of  disposing  of 
difficulties  is  not  without  its  disad- 
vantages &^&&&3&>&&&&y4g&r&®> 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  71 


about  as  far  from  mother  earth  as  most  peo- 
ple care  to  go.  The  highest  buildings  in  Chi- 
cago are  about  two  hundred  feet.  From  the 
roofs  of  these  edifices  the  people  below  look 
like  pigmies;  the  rattle  of  traffic  is  heard  as 
a  faint  hum.  But  from  the  top  of  the  Eiffel 
Tower  men  and  women  on  the  ground  all 
look  alike;  they  are  mere  dots,  without 
height  or  individu- 
ality. CL  The  Eiffel 
Tower  is  the  greatest 
scheme  for  elevat- 
ing humanity  ever 
conceived.  It  costs 
five  francs  to  make 
the  ascent,  but  it  is 
worth  the  money.  It 
will  try  your  nerves, 
and  possibly  make 
you  seasick,  but  the 
joy  you  feel  on  get- 
ting back  to  earth  is 
compensation  for  all 
discomfort. 
Besides  this,change 
is  hygienic,  and  new 
sensations,  new  ex- 
periences and  new 
views  are  tonics.  In 
fact,  a  specialist  in 
neurotics  at  Paris 
takes  certain  of  his 
patients  to  the  top  of  the  Eiffel  Tower  in 
order  to  arouse  them  out  of  their  despond- 
ency— to  animate  and  compel  them  to  think 
of  new  things. 

We  have  all  heard  of  the  chronic  invalid  who 
was  not  cured  until  the  house  caught  afire; 
but  who  wants  to  start  a  conflagration  as 
treatment  for  melancholia?  Yet  the  elevators 
at  the  Eiffel  Tower  run  every  day,  and  it 
has  happened  that  when  patients  who  have 
tried  to  commit  suicide  are  taken  up  in  the 
nicely  cushioned  cage,  they  have  become 
frightened  and  begged  to  be  taken  down  at 
once.  CL  Let  me  frankly  confess  that  I  was 
first  attracted  to  the  Eiffel  Tower  through  the 
advice  of  a  physician.  I  had  overworked, 
endeavoring  to  read  all  of  the  chipmunk 
magazines  as  fast  as  they  appeared.  Nervous 
prostration  set  in,  and  neurasthenia  had  taken 
a  firm  hold  on  me,  and  if  my  actions  at  this 
time  were  slightly  peculiar,  the  gentle  reader 


must  be  charitable  and  attribute  my  eccen- 
tricity solely  to  my  physical  condition  —  and 
the  magazinelets. 

I  made  the  ascent  of  the  Tower  by  stages: 
the  first  time  I  was  fully  satisfied  on  going  to 
the  second  landing.  The  next  time  to  the  third, 
and  on  the  third  ascent  I  reached  the  summit. 
C  Had  I  gone  but  once  it  would  have  been 
an  experience  never 
tobeforgotten.Alas! 
the  medicine  was  so 
palatable  that  I  took 
a  double  dose,  and 
on  the  second  trip 
the  Tower  was  only 
half  as  high.  I  was 
quite  blase.  C,  The 
work  of  the  great 
engineer?  What  of 
it!  He  has  the  earth 
to  build  upon,  the 
corners  of  the  world 
from  which  to  draw 
material,  books  that 
tell  him  the  crush- 
ing resistance  of  his 
base  and  the  break- 
ing tension  of  his 
beams.  He  digs  for 
hiscaissons,layshis 
foundation,  places 
his  steel  uprights, 
counts  on  the  force  of  the  wind,  computes 
the  exact  weight  of  each  piece  he  will  use, 
bolts  and  rivets  part  to  part,  carrying  up 
columns  and  girders  by  elevator,  and  like 
the  building  of  a  railroad,  lays  the  track  for 
his  carriages  as  he  goes.  A  railway  extends 
iron  after  iron  on  the  ground;  this  extends 
iron  after  iron  into  the  air.  But  it  is  all  accord- 
ing to  well  digested  physical  laws;  it  is  all 
geometric.  The  Tower  has  four  immense 
corners  three  hundred  feet  apart  that  are 
mortised  into  the  very  crust  of  the  Miocene 
Period.  The  pressure  on  each  square  centi- 
metre at  the  base  is  nine  pounds;  that  at  the 
Washington  monument  is  fifty-eight  pounds. 
The  difference  is  in  the  material  used.  Who 
is  afraid?  There  it  rises,  tall,  straight,  correct, 
cold-levelled  with  plumb-line  and  square.  It 
is  all  mathematically  adjusted,  clamped,  im- 
plicated, riveted,  rectilinear,  symmetrical, 
sure.  It  cost  $1,500,000. 


OB  was  stung  into  self- 
vindication —  a  thing  no 
man  should  ever  attempt. 
If  men  do  not  comprehend 
the  trend  of  your  life  by 
your  actions,  they  will  never  know 
it  better  by  your  making  a  personal 
explanation.  Your  life  may  be  right 
but  your  reasons  never.  Life,  like 
love,  is  its  own  excuse  for  being. 
tL  One  of  the  compensations  in  sin 
is  that  it  saves  a  man  from  becom- 
ing a  Pharisee. 

*L  Self-Reliance  is  very  excellent, 
but  as  for  independence,  there  is  no 
such  thing 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  72 


On  my  third  passage  in  the  elevator  of  the 
Eiffel  Tower  the  novelty  of  the  thing  had 
quite  worn  away.  I  joked  with  the  ticket- 
seller,  slapped  the  guard  on  the  back,  entered 
the  car  and  pacified  several  ladies  who  were 
a  bit  nervous  and  threatening  to  scream ;  then 
I  gave  the  order  to  ascend.  My  jaunty  manner 
quite  put  the  passengers  at  their  ease.  In 
pigeon  French  I  ex- 
plained the  work- 
ingsof  theelevators, 
the  cost  of  the  struc- 
ture, the  time  it  took 
to  build  it  and  the 
difficulties  encoun- 
tered. 

On  the  down  trip 
one  of  the  ladies 
asked:  "Who  was 
it  built  this  tower, 
anyway?" 
"I  am  the  man  who 
built  it,"  was  my 
unblushing  answer. 
C"I  thought  from 
your  accent  that  you 
were  an  American?" 
C" Madam,  you  ev- 
idently forget  that 
in  building  towers 
the  vocabulary  gets 
a  trifle  mixed  up." 
The  next  day  as  I  viewed  the  Eiffel  Tower 
from  my  hotel  window,  I  smiled  in  derision. 
COn  first  approaching  the  Tower  a  week 
before,  I  had  been  overawed,  then  I  admired, 
then  endured,  then  pitied,  then  embraced  — 
an  opportunity  to  scorn  it. 
And  this  is  how  it  happened:  In  the  Paris 
edition  of  the  New  York  Herald  I  read  an 
advertisement  worded  as  follows:  "Prof.  Le 
Galligar,  the  celebrated  aeronaut,  will  make 
an  ascension  for  scientific  purposes  to-mor- 
row, from  the  Champ  de  Mars.  Three  pas- 
sengers will  be  taken  at  fifty  francs  each. 
Apply  early  at  Fifteen  Rue  St.  Denis." 
An  overwhelming  desire  had  come  over  me 
to  spit  down  upon  the  pride  of  M.  Eiffel. 
Here  was  the  chance.  I  hastened  to  Rue  St. 
Denis,  found  Prof.  Le  Galligar,  a  bright 
youth  of  about  twenty-two,  at  a  little  wine 
shop.  He  was  too  young  to  be  celebrated, 
and  did  not  look  scientific,  yet  I  paid  him  my 


passage  money  and  took  a  receipt.  He  could 
not  understand  my  English,  and  to  me  his 
French  was  incomprehensible ;  but  by  means 
of  much  pantomime  it  was  agreed  that  I 
should  be  on  hand  at  two  o'clock  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

I  slept  little  that  night,  and  was  up  betimes 
the  next  morning.  When  I  approached  the 
Champ  de  Mars  in 
the  afternoon,  I  saw 
the  great  mud-col- 
ored balloon  sway- 
ing back  and  forth 
likeanimpatientele- 
phant.  Quite  a  large 
crowd  had  gather- 
ed. On  working  my 
way  through  the  jam 
I  found  that  ropes 
had  been  stretched 
in  the  form  of  a 
square  to  keep  peo- 
ple back.  I  managed 
to  reach  the  ropes, 
dodged  under,  and 
was  seized  by  a  big 
"John  Darm."  I 
shouldered  him  to 
one  side,  and  just  as 
hewasabouttodraw 
his  sword,  Prof.  Le 
Galligar  rushed  for- 
ward, all  in  spangled  tights.  He  embraced 
me,  and  kissed  me  on  both  cheeks.  He  intro- 
duced me  to  the  assemblage,  first  to  the  east, 
then  to  the  north,  then  to  the  west,  then  to 
the  south.  The  crowd  cheered  lustily. 
Soon  the  other  two  passengers  appeared. 
One  was  a  tall,  slim  man,  the  other  short  and 
stout.  They  were  embraced  by  the  professor, 
and  duly  introduced,  first  to  me,  then  to  the 
crowd,  east,  north,  south  and  west. 
My  shipmates  were  both  Frenchmen,  and 
spoke  no  English.  I  was  neither  frightened 
nor  nervous,  but  still  I  had  prayed  hard  that 
at  least  one  of  them  might  speak  English.  I 
wished  to  hear  my  native  tongue  before  I 
left  the  earth. 

But  there  was  no  time  for  disappointment. 
The  Professor  seized  me  by  the  arm,  marched 
me  around  to  the  other  side  of  the  swaying 
basket,  and  pointed  to  the  rope  ladder.  I 
consulted  my  watch;  it  was  just  two  o'clock. 


OUNG  men,  ardent  and 
full  of  zeal,  are  always 
coming  to  the  rescue  of 
God.  They  defend  Him 
heroically.  Does  any  one 
speak  disrespectfully  of  the  Almighty 
they  rush  in  as  champions  protect- 
ing His  good  name  and  vindicate 
Him  if  possible  by  humiliating  the 
offender. 

C.  Sickness  sometimes  is  the  calling 
a  halt  that  gives  a  man  time  to  think. 
C  It  is  a  good  policy  to  leave  a  few 
things  unsaid. 

C  It  is  not  difficult  to  bear  another's 

woes  j^&^>%s&&i&>A£&>&s&&^r&& 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  73 


I  climbed  up,  and  found  that  my  colleagues 
had  preceded  me. 

On  standing  in  the  basket  the  top  came 
nearly  level  with  my  shoulders.  The  tall 
man's  head  was  a  foot  above  mine  and  the 
little  duodecimo's  a  foot  below — his  face 
deathly  pale.  C,The  Professor  perched  airily 
on  the  edge  of  the  basket,  and  gave  orders 
to  cast  off.  Then  it 
was  that  the  little 
stout  man  got  his 
hands  on  the  side  of 
the  basket  and  tried 
frantically  to  get  out 
— he  had  changed 
his  mind.  The  Pro- 
fessor slid  down  & 
grasped  him  by  the 
legs,  endeavoring  to 
pull  him  back  in.  I 
took  a  hand,  too. 
We  forced  him  to 
the  floor,  while  all 
the  time  the  crowd 
cheered. 

Then  there  was  a 
silence.  I  stood  on 
the  prostrate  form 
of  the  fat  man  and 
looked  over  the  side 
to  see  what  this  sud- 
den quiet  meant.  A 
shrill  feminine  voice 
came  to  my  ears  just 
then:  "Why,  that 's 
the  man  who  built 
the  Eiffel  Tower!" 
CI  looked  down  & 

there,  to  the  front  of  the  crowd,  was  my  friend 
of  the  day  before.  She  waved  her  parasol  at 
me,  and  I  was  going  to  shout  back  an  ante- 
mortem  statement  but  my  attention  was  di- 
verted by  seeing  that  the  anchor  ropes,  which 
had  been  held  by  a  dozen  men  a  moment 
before,  were  now  dangling. 
We  were  off!  No,  we  were  not  moving  at  all ; 
the  earth  was  slowly  slipping  away  from  us 
and  turning  at  the  same  time.  The  north  of 
Paris  was  sloughing  around  to  the  northeast. 
C,The  Eiffel  Tower  pushed  down  and  away. 
It  slid  down  until  we  were  at  the  first  landing, 
the  second,  we  were  even  with  the  top;  it 
glided  down  beneath  us  a  hundred  feet.  I 


leaned  over  the  basket  and  spat  violently. 
The  tall  man  jabbered  in  French,  shook  my 
hand,  and  the  Professor  all  the  while  tumbled 
out  cards,  dodgers  and  sundry  advertise- 
ments in  the  interest  of  science.  And  still  the 
little  man  lay  in  the  bottom  of  the  basket, 
and  the  great  city  slowly  swirled  and  slipped 
away,  away,  away.  CL  The  houses  were  only 
painted  play  blocks 


HE  books  written  behind 
prison  bars,  by  men  in 
forced  exile  and  by  those 
who  paid  the  penalty  of 
honest  expression  with 
death,  largely  inspire  earth's  highest 
thoughts;  the  world's  Saviours  are 
often  society's  outcasts. 
<L  Every  author  is  the  hero  of  his 
tale.  Make  no  mistake — when  he 
pictures  a  man  that  is  wise  &  good, 
that  man  is  himself  or  the  person 
he  would  like  to  be. 
C  No  joy  can  be  complete  apart  from 
a  love  that  loves  the  whole  world's 
joy  better  than  any  separate  joy  of 
any  single  soul. 

C  Listen  closely  and  you  will  detect 
the  minor  note  in  the  voice  of  every 
man  of  decided  worth  r&®> 


gently  rocking  up  & 
down,  and  the  hor- 
ses were  surely  out 
of  a  Noah's  Ark 
collection.  We  were 
over  the  Champs 
Elysees,  approach- 
ing the  Arc  de  Tri- 
omphe.C  The  peo- 
ple looked  likeblack 
ants  as  viewed  from 
a  tree  top.  Some  of 
them  were  moving, 
some  evidently  had 
discovered  us  and 
were  standing  still. 
There  they  were,  a 
full  three  million  of 
them  below  us,  eat- 
ing, sleeping,  fight- 
ing and  praying;  in 
houses,  on  roofs,  on 
ladders,  on  fences, 
a  few  up  the  Eiffel 
Tower,  but  all  on 
earth.  Some  were  in 
love,  some  disap- 
pointed, some  lay- 


ing plans  to  get  the 
money  of  others;  black  ants  working  for  the 
applause  of  black  ants;  black  ants  seeking  to 
reform  ants  blacker  than  themselves.  All 
born  in  sin,  and  therefore  deserving  damna- 
tion. Yet  some  were  to  be  saved  by  special 
enactment.  How  pick  out  which  were  to  be 
saved,  and  which  not?  They  were  all  alike. 
So  I  damned  them  all,  and  then  forgave  them 
— electing  them  to  Tuileries  in  the  skies. 
C  Paris  with  its  long  line  of  white  houses 
was  drifting  away.  The  black  ants  could  no 
longer  be  distinguished.  The  boulevards 
were  reduced  to  mere  threads,  and  the  wind- 
ing Seine  was  only  a  long  crooked  chalk- 
mark.  H  M.  Le  Galligar  had  thrown  out  all 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  74 


mi 


of  his  advertising  matter,  and  was  slashing 
bags  of  sand  and  emptying  them.  The  air 
was  cold,  and  he  was  slapping  his  hands;  I 
slapped  mine,  too.  The  face  of  the  tall  man 
was  pinched  and  blue. 
The  earth  had  given  us  the  slip  now;  it  had 
faded  from  sight,  and  below  was  only  a  great, 
white,  spreading  cloud.  And  yet,  strange!  I 
could  plainly  hear 
human  voices.  They 
came  as  sounds  do 
across  a  quiet  lake. 
CThe  Professor 
consulted  his  instru- 
ments&  made  notes, 
then  he  pulled  at  a 
cord.  The  cloud  en- 
veloped us,  cover- 
ing our  faces  with 
mist.  CLThe  bleating 
of  sheep  could  be 
heard  — the  voices 
became  plainer,  the 
green  of  the  earth 
came  back,  but  Pa- 
ris was  only  a  gray 
bank  of  clouds  on 
the  horizon. 
The  earth  was  ris- 
ing to  greet  us.  Men, 
women  &  children 
were  leaving  their 
houses— some  run- 
ning across  fields  in 
our  direction.  Two 
drag-ropes  were  out 
—  one  with  an  an- 
chor. Again  the  aer- 
onaut pulled  at  the  cord;  the  earth  came 
nearer.  C  The  basket  dashed  against  a  tree 
and  bumped  its  freight  all  together.  We  apol- 
ogized. Then  we  hit  a  stone  wall,  but  shot 
up  again  ten  feet  in  the  air. 
The  anchor  failed  to  catch,  but  fate  was  kind ; 
an  old  woman  in  a  rainy  day  skirt  and  wooden 
shoes  was  after  us.  She  ran  like  a  sprinter. 
At  last  she  got  the  rope  in  her  hands;  she 
yelled  "whoa"  sturdily  and  pulled  hard,  but 
could  not  stop  us.  Other  women  came,  chil- 
dren too,  then  a  man.  All  lent  a  hand.  The 
fat  passenger  was  standing,  and  the  instant 
the  basket  touched  the  ground  he  rolled  over 
the  side  into  the  friendly  lap  of  earth.  We 


all  climbed  out.  CThe  Professor  lighted  a 
cigarette,  gave  a  jerk  to  a  small  rope,  and  the 
great  balloon  struggled,  quivered,  sank  and 
died.  C  A  whole  peasant  village  was  bab- 
bling about  us.  The  Professor  was  arguing 
hotly  with  the  fat  man;  the  peasantry  too, 
were  taking  part.  It  was  all  in  very  rapid 
Francais.  <L  Suddenly  M.  LeGalligar  receiv- 
ed the  gift  of  ton- 


OUNG  converts  are  afraid 
that  God  shall  become 
ridiculous.  They  cannot 
comprehend  the  differ- 
ence between  criticising 
their  conception  of  God,  and  God 
Himself.  All  blasphemy  laws  are 
based  on  this  misconception. 
CEvery  man  who  has  been  pulled 
into  a  theological  argument  (&  where 
is  the  man  who  has  not  been  pulled 
into  a  theological  argument?)  thinks 
less  of  himself  afterward. 
C  Common  sense  is  a  form  of  god- 
liness, &  in  the  last  analysis  wisdom 
&  virtue  are  synonymous ;  and  what- 
ever is  wise  cannot  but  be  good. 
*LThe  men  who  do  things,  and  not 
the  men  who  merely  talk  about 
things,  are  those  who  bless  the  world. 


gues.  He  turned  & 
spoke  to  me  in  Eng- 
lish that  was  strong- 
ly tinctured  with  a 
Dublin  brogue.  He 
explained  that  the 
law  of  ballooning 
was,  that  the  first 
individual  to  seize 
the  rope  of  a  de- 
scending balloon 
was  to  receive  ten 
francs;  this  is  to  be 
paid  by  the  person 
who  first  got  out  of 
the  basket.  He  ap- 
pealed to  me  as  the 
judge:  should  the 
fat  man  pay  or  not? 
CI  decided  that  he 
should  pay,  and  he 
did.  C  Then  we  set- 
tled for  the  apples 
which  were  knock- 
ed from  the  trees  by 
ourdragginganchor 
and  paid  five  francs 
for  fixing  the  stone 
wall.  C  As  the  Pro- 
fessor started  to  roll  up  the  dead  balloon  I 
looked  at  my  watch.  It  was  just  twenty-five 
minutes  after  two.  We  were  twelve  miles 
from  Eiffel  Tower. 

fgOCIETY  AND  ITS  DIVERSIONS. 
gknJf  Herbert  Spencer,  at  eighty-three  years 
tSSsil  of  age,  has  recently  sent  some  small 
shivers  down  the  spines  of  the  Leisure  Class 
in  England  by  saying,  "The  society  repre- 
sented by  our  so-called  best  families  is  es- 
sentially barbaric." 

This  remark,  coming  from  a  commonplace 
man,  would  have  excited  no  comment,  but 
when  Herbert  Spencer  stands  behind  a  sen- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  75 


tence,  it  is  apt  to  mean  much.  The  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  quoted  the  comment  and  added: 
"Poor  old  man!  he  is  certainly  in  his  dot- 
age." CThe  worst  about  Spencer's  remark 
is  that  it  is  true.  Society  moves  in  a  circle — 
things  are  in  a  swirl,  and  civilization  could 
never  exist  at  all  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
country  boys,  born  in  families  of  no  social 
standing,  no  wealth, 


CIn  order  to  belong  to  the  Best  Society  you 
must  dress  so  you  cannot  be  useful  —  you 
cannot  shoulder  a  trunk,  carry  out  the  ashes, 
cook,  hitch  up  a  horse,  nor  dig  in  the  ground. 
The  raiment  that  Society  demands  you  shall 
wear,  forbids  your  using  your  muscles  in 
any  useful  effort. 

At  the  Waldorf-Astoria  seventeen  hundred 
servants  are  em- 


are  constantly  going 
up  to  the  cities  to 
take  places  where 
only  men  of  power 
can  exist. 

The  society  repre- 
sented by  our  Best 
Families  is  essenti- 
ally barbaric — in 
America  and  else- 
where. And  the  rea- 
son is  that  it  has 
ceased  to  produce 
and  now  only  con- 
sumes. fl.lt  lives  on 
the  labor  of  others. 
tlThe  thing  which 
does  not  serve — that 
has  no  use,  is  surely 
a  burden  to  some- 
body if  continued. 
CThe  self-appoint- 
ed Superior  Class 
is  an  awful  handi- 
cap to  civilization. 
41  Our  Best  Society 
destroys,  consumes 
and  lays  waste.  The 
Child  Slavery  of  the 
South,  the  Sweat  Shops  of  the  cities,  and  the 
unending  toil  of  most  farming  folk  is  a  direct 
result  of  our  Best  Society — this  so-called 
Superior  Class. 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  work  to  do  in 
the  world,  and  the  reason  some  people  have 
to  work  from  daylight  clear  into  the  night  is 
because  others  do  not  work  at  all.  If  you 
consume  more  than  you  produce  some  one 
must  labor  to  make  good  the  deficiency. 
COur  Best  Society  is  intent  on  honoring  the 
man  who  wastes  and  consumes.  In  fact,  if 
you  are  a  mere  producer,  and  nothing  else, 
the  Best  Society  does  not  deign  to  notice  you, 
much  less  admit  you  into  its  charmed  circle. 


HOW  the  marbles  that 
fill  your  niches  and  the 
canvases  that  glorify  your 
walls  to  those  who  seldom 
see  such  sights.  Give  your 
education  to  those  who  need  it,  your 
culture  to  those  who  have  less,  and 
you  double  your  treasure  by  giving 
it  away 

C,The  great  man  is  poised  and  sat- 
isfied—  no  matter  what  happens. 
The  little  man  is  always  full  of  trou- 
ble ;  and  this  trouble  he  always  lays 
to  the  fault  of  others. 
tLMost  of  the  really  great  men  in 
America  have  warmed  their  bare 
feet  frosty  mornings  on  the  spot 
where  the  cows  have  lain  down. 
CWe  are  heirs  to  the  past,  both  its 
good  and  its  i 


ployed,  and  this  is 
just  the  capacity  of 
the  hotel — there  is 
one  servant  for  ev- 
ery guest.  And  in 
meat  and  drink  each 
guest  wastes  about 
five  times  as  much 
as  he  consumes. 
This  fact  is  also  true 
of  all  the  so-called 
First-Class  Hotels 
in  our  large  cities. 
€1  Some  one  has  got 
to  make  good  this 
wastage— and  it  is 
the  social  outcast 
who  does  it. 
Only  a  few  years 
ago  all  useful  work 
was  done  by  slaves. 
These  slaves  were 
bought,  sold,  worn 
out,  beheaded  and 
tossed  to  hell  at  will 
by  the  Best  Society, 
tl  Gradually  things 
have  bettered,  but 
the  distinguishing 
feature  of  the  Best  Society  yet  is  that  it  at- 
taches a  disgrace  to  useful  effort — it  disso- 
ciates itself  from  toil. 

In  every  town  and  city  in  America  there  is 
this  little  Smart  Set  that  patterns  its  life  after 
that  of  the  Turk.  It  is  waited  on,  and  spends 
its  days  in  having  "a  good  time." 
Usually  the  true  type  centers  itself  around  a 
small  ivy-covered  church  upon  which  is  a 
disguised  cross. 

In  Virginia,  for  instance,  the  Best  Society 
swings  around  this  church  with  its  skimped, 
iced  and  rudimentary  cross.  Education  is  to 
fit  one  for  this  Best  Society — to  avoid  work 
and  do  it  gracefully.  And  if  one  can  become 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  76 


a  priest  to  this  Society  and  preside  at  the 
modest,  ivy-clad  chapel  with  its  pee-wee 
cross,  what  greater  honor! 
Oh,  yes  there  is  one  honor  just  as  great,  the 
Army!  The  Church  or  the  Army,  which 
shall  it  be?  is  the  tantalizing  question  that 
confronts  the  ambitious  mother — to  save 
souls  or  damn  them— it  really  matters  little. 
CAnnapolis  with 


brass  buttons  or  the 
Church  with  hooks 
and  eyes!  Which? 
And  anyway,  thank 
God!  Reginald  is  to 
be  a  gentleman.  He 
shall  dance  &  hunt 
and  shoot— he  shall 
be  an  ornament  to 
the  Best  Society. 
C.  The  Best  Society 
gets  its  recreation 
through  waste  and 
destruction.  In  Vir- 
ginia especially  it 
demandsblood.The 
horses  they  use  are 
first  deprived  of 
their  tails.  The  birds 
mate,  nest  and  rear 
their  young,  only  to 
be  shot  &  mutilated 
by  members  of  the 
Best  Society;  foxes 
are  bred  but  to  be 
chased  by  packs  of 
hounds  that  are  kept 
for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  destroy 
these  foxes  that  are  bred  to  be  destroyed 
for  the  amusement  of  this  Superior  Class. 
C  The  foxes  have  holes  and  the  birds  of  the 
air  have  nests,  but  what 's  the  use  when  we 
who  belong  to  the  Best  Society  know  where 
they  are !  CL  The  following  is  a  clipping  taken 
from  the  Society  Column  of  the  Richmond, 
Virginia,  Dispatch  for  May  21st,  1902.  I 
print  the  extract  without  comment: 

On  Sunday  evening  the  observant  captain 
of  the  Waynesboro  Club,  Captain  William 
McCray,  who  belongs  to  our  Best  Society, 
and  who  is  ever  on  the  alert  to  take  advant- 
age of  any  new  scheme  in  the  sporting  line, 
noticed  about  two  bushels  of  chimney  swal- 


lows taking  refuge  in  a  neighbor's  chimney, 
whereupon  he  summoned  James  Craig,  and 
together  they  concocted  a  plan  by  which  to 
take  captive  the  unsuspecting  denizens  of 
the  air.  By  means  of  a  large  sack  spread 
over  the  top  of  the  chimney,  and  the  appli- 
cation of  a  dense  smoke  at  the  bottom,  about 
four  hundred  swallows  were  incarcerated. 

The  originators  of 

HERE  is  no  Secret  Soci 


ety  that  hascorralled  truth. 
Truth  is  in  the  air,  and 
when  your  head  gets  into 
the  right  stratum  you  know 
it.  No  one  can  impart  it  to  you  until 
the  time  is  ripe,  and  when  the  time 
is  ripe  for  you  to  know,  you  do  not 
have  to  ride  a  Goat  in  order  to  un- 
derstand A£&&®>&&  r&&&&> 

il  Nature  punishes  most  sins,  but 
blasphemy,  sacrilege  and  heresy  are 
things  that  nature  does  not  provide 
any  punishment  for;  therefore  man 
has  to  look  after  these  things  himself. 
C  The  best  souls  often  suffer  most, 
while  baseness  and  flaunting  pride 
go  free.  But  pain  is  not  all  pain. 
CL  Wit  and  insight  are  saving  virtues 
that  only  the  strong  possess 


the  plan  were  so 
jubilant  over  their 
catch  that  they  im- 
mediately commu- 
nicated the  news  to 
several  members  of 
the  Staunton  Gun 
Club,  whom  they 
invited,  &  Messrs. 
William  McDaniel, 
S.  P.  Davis  &  John 
Foxhall  joined  them 
Monday  afternoon 
in  a  shooting  match. 
The  birds  were  lib- 
erated from  a  trap 
one  at  a  time,  and 
the  sportsmen  said 
they  have  never  un- 
dergone such  a  test 
of  marksmanship  as 
they  were  put  to  by 
the  frightened  swal- 
lows.C.  A  number 
of  spectators  were 
present,  including  a 
number  of  ladies, 
and  neither  the  at- 
traction of  the  polo 
game,  going  on  at  the  time,  nor  the  impend- 
ing storm,  could  drive  them  from  the  scene 
of  excitement. 

The  match  lasted  for  several  hours,  and 
William  McDaniel  of  Staunton,  took  the  lead, 
killing  thirteen  out  of  twenty-four  birds,  fol- 
lowed by  Dr.  T.  S.  Richardson,  who  killed 
twelve  out  of  twenty-four. 
A  notable  feature  in  the  case  is  that  the  swal- 
lows that  were  so  fortunate  as  to  escape 
made  direct  for  the  shelter  of  the  chimney 
from  which  they  had  been  captured." 

CUf  there  is  any  better  way  to  teach  virtue 
than  to  practice  it,  I  do  not  know  it. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  77 


BOUT  KNOCKING 
AND  KNOCKERS. 

Arise,  my  God,  and  strike,  for 

we  hold  Thee  just, 
Strike  dead  the  whole  weak 
race  of  venomous  worms 
That  sting  each  other  here  in  the  dust. 

—  Tennyson. 

Mr.  William  T.  Stead  once  wrote 
some  things  about  Chicago.  Some 
of  the  items  he  penned  were  not 
wholly  complimentary.The  intense 
activity  of  the  place,  Mr.  Stead 
thought,  had  evolved  a  certain  im- 
patience and  often  an  ungenerous 
quality  of  mind  that  revealed  itself 
in  heresy  trials,  divorce  mills,  po- 
litical fights  where  aldermen  de- 
fied the  judges,  the  judges  defied 
the  legislature,  and  the  legislators 
challenged  the  governors.  To  this 
English  visitor  the  daily  papers 
were  unnecessarily  busy  with  char- 
ges, accusations  and  indictments, 
and  everywhere,  even  in  parlors, 
scandal,  defamation  and  vitupera- 
tion seemed  to  abound.  "Chicago 
averages  a  murder  a  day,  not  count- 
ing all  those  who  are  done  to  death 
by  Chicago  Tongue,"  said  Mr. 
Stead.  C  Mr.  Israel  Zangwill,  coun- 
tryman and  friend  of  Mr.  Stead, 
visiting  Chicago  some  time  after, 
was  escorted  about  the  city  by  a 
Committee  to  Behold  the  Sights. 
Among  other  places  of  interest  he 
was  taken  to  the  Stock-yards,  where 
luncheon  was  served  for  the  party. 
During  the  meal  a  Pert  Miss,  seated 


next  to  the  guest  of  honor,  asked 
him  this  question:  C"Mr.  Zang- 
will, how  do  you  like  Chicago 
Ham?"  ii  The  Dreamer  of  the 
Ghetto  raised  his  sorrowful  face 
and  said,  "I  like  it,  I  like  it — much 
better  than  Chicago  Tongue!"  CL  A 
thousand  years  before  Christ,  Sol- 
omon said  some  wholesome  truths 
about  this  matter  of  Tongue.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  he  had  any  pro- 
phetic vision  of  the  Chicago  arti- 
cle, and  really  there  is  no  proof 
that  Chicago  Tongue  is  any  worse 
than  any  other  brand;  but  let  it 
stand  as  the  type  of  a  Bad  Thing. 
CA  tragic,  though  perhaps  not  a 
remarkable  case  of  Chicago  Ton- 
gue, came  to  my  attention  a  few 
years  ago.  It  seems  that  a  good 
natured  and  somewhat  talkative 
man  remarked  in  a  little  Bohemian 
company  that  a  certain  artist,  well 
known  to  those  present,  wore  trou- 
sers that  bagged  beautifully  at  the 
knee.  C  A  man  and  woman  in  the 
party,  who  had  a  well  defined  case 
of  artistic  jealousy  toward  the  vol- 
uble man,  repeated  the  remark  to 
the  artist  who  was  referred  to.  The 
woman  repeated  the  remark  in  the 
morning,  and  the  little  artist,  of  a 
sensitive  and  gentle  type  with  no 
capacity  for  horse-play,  was  just  a 
trifle  nettled.  And  when  the  man 
told  him  the  same  thing  with  vary- 
ing accent  and  inflection,  in  the 
afternoon,  the  matter  took  on  a 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  78 


rather  serious  shape.  A  few  days 
after  the  artist  met  the  gossipy 
woman  again,  and  he  questioned 
her  as  to  what  had  been  said.  She 
repeated  the  remark  about  Pants, 
with  gesticulations,  genuflexions, 
shrugs  and  curves;  and  wishing  to 
prove  her  friendship,  warned  the 
artist  to  be  on  his  guard  against 
those  who  were  trying  to  Unhorse 
him.  CThe  more  the  artist  thought 
of  the  matter  the  more  sure  he  was 
that  this  remark  about  his  raiment 
really  meant  that  he  was  a  man 
devoid  of  taste,  lacking  in  refine- 
ment, if  not  decency,  and  totally 
unfit  to  associate  with  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  Each  time  he  met  his 
alleged  friends  they  pumped  the 
poison  into  him.  The  matter  preyed 
upon  the  man's  mind  until  he  could 
neither  eat,  sleep  nor  work.  He 
sought  out  his  traducer,  insulted 
him  openly,  and  got  himself  well 
chastised.  His  violence  lost  him 
his  position,  and  a  long  season  of 
dissipation  and  idleness  followed, 
with  golden  moments  lost  and  lost 
forever.  The  last  I  heard  of  the 
man  and  woman  who  had  so  un- 
wittingly combined  to  work  the 
ruin  of  their  friend,  they  had  turned 
on  each  other  and  were  rending 
reputations  to  rag-time.  €l  The  in- 
cident just  mentioned  sounds  like 
an  extreme  case,  but  I  hardly  think 
it  is,  for  the  mischief-makers  are 
at  work  in  a  similar  way  on  every 


hand.  Should  the  Angel  Gabriel 
come  to  me  and  in  a  confidential 
undertone  declare  that  a  certain 
man,  any  man  or  any  angel,  was  a 
vilifier  of  truth,  a  snare  to  the  in- 
nocent, a  pilferer,  a  sneak,  a  rob- 
ber of  graveyards,  I  would  say, 
"Gabriel,  you  are  troubled  with 
incipient  paranoia — I  do  not  be- 
lieve a  word  of  what  you  say.  The 
man  you  mention  may  not  be  a 
saint,  but  he  is  probably  just  as 
good  as  you  or  I.  In  fact  I  think 
he  must  be  very  much  like  you,  for 
we  are  never  interested  in  either 
a  person  or  a  thing  that  does  not 
bear  some  direct  relationship  to 
ourselves.  Then,  Gabriel,  do  you 
not  remember  the  words  of  Bishop 
Begum,  who  said  that  no  man  ap- 
plies an  epithet  to  another  that 
cannot  with  equal  truth  be  applied 
to  himself?"  il  When  we  remem- 
ber that  hoarse,  guttural  cry  of 
"Away  with  him — away  with  him!" 
and  when  we  recall  that  some  of 
the  best  and  noblest  men  who  have 
ever  lived  have  been  reviled  and 
traduced,  indicted  and  executed  by 
so-called  good  men — certainly  men 
who  were  sincere — how  can  we 
open  our  hearts  to  the  tales  of 
discredit  told  of  any  man?  The 
Billingsgate  Calendar  has  been  ex- 
hausted in  attempts  to  describe 
Walt  Whitman,  and  the  lexicon  of 
abuse  has  been  used  to  hammer 
the  heads  of  such  men  as  Richard 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  79 


Wagner,  Victor  Hugo,  Count  Tol- 
stoy and  William  Morris.  Know- 
ing these  things,  as  every  one  does, 
shall  we  imitate  folly,  accept  con- 
crete absurdity  for  our  counsel  and 
guide,  and  take  stock  in  Chicago 
Tongue?  CThat  entire  Salem 
Witchcraft  insanity  was  nothing 
but  a  bad  case  of  Chicago  Tongue. 
Much  of  the  martyrdom  &  blood- 
shed of  the  past  can  be  traced  di- 
rectly to  the  same  cause.  H  Nations 
have  gone  to  war  because  some 
princeling  has  charged  that  a  King 
stuck  his  tongue  in  his  cheek  and 
bit  his  thumb  when  another  King 
was  mentioned, — nothing  but  Chi- 
cago Tongue!  <LDo  not  deceive 
yourself  with  the  vain  thought  that 
women  hold  a  monopoly  on  Chi- 
cago Tongue  —  men  set  them  a 
pace  in  this  direction  that  they  can 
never  hope  to  equal.  The  gossip  of 
women  is  usually  of  a  patty-pan 
order,  and  comparatively  harmless 
compared  with  that  of  men.  C  One 
peculiarity  of  Chicago  Tongue  is 
that  when  it  is  passed  along  from 
one  person  to  another  it  takes  on 
ptomaines.  The  original  remark, 
uttered  in  a  certain  circle,  may 
have  been  utterly  devoid  of  poison, 
but  when  the  repetition  comes,  in 
a  different  atmosphere,  to  differ- 
ent hearers,  told  by  another  man, 
the  wit  that  once  disinfected  the 
thing  is  gone,  and  we  have  only 
dead,  stale,  tainted,  unprofitable 


Chicago  Tongue.  And  so  you  see 
how  a  person  who  repeats  an  un- 
kind remark  is  probably  doing  a 
much  greater  mischief  than  the 
one  who  first  voiced  it.  The  man 
who  repeats  the  story,  and  thus 
retails  the  poison,  fails  to  supply 
the  antidote.  Let  his  name  be  ana- 
thema. <LThe  basic  principle  of 
Chicago  Tongue  is  jealousy.  Jeal- 
ousy is  a  social  cancer,  and  grows 
by  what  it  feeds  upon.  And  its 
only  food  is  Chicago  Tongue — the 
more  tainted  the  better.  41 1  once 
knew  three  intelligent  men  to  start 
in  giving  each  other  small  doses  of 
Chicago  Tongue,  just  by  way  of 
banter.  The  doses  were  increased, 
and  in  a  short  time  all  three  began 
to  really  believe  the  stories  they 
had  been  telling  about  a  particular 
man  of  whom  they  were  all  more 
or  less  jealous.  The  cancer  grew 
worse — the  poison  was  at  work — 
the  trio  held  meetings  behind  lock- 
ed doors  to  devise  a  way  by  which 
they  could  rid  themselves  of  the 
supposed  enemy.  Assault  and  even 
murder  were  on  their  proposed 
program.  They  were  wild,  mad, 
stark,  staring  crazy  on  Chicago 
Tongue,  ii  Luckily,  a  sane  man 
discovered  them  in  time,  rapped 
them  all  vigorously  over  the  head, 
separated  them  one  from  the  other 
so  they  could  no  longer  infect  each 
other  and  pool  their  poison.  Had 
this  separation  not  been  brought 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  80 


about  they  surely  would  have  all 
run  down  a  steep  place  into  the 
sea  and  been  drowned,  as  was  that 
herd  of  swine  in  the  story,  when 
the  devils  took  the  rudder. C  If 
you  are  a  man,  beware  how  you  let 
any  devil  get  possession  of  your 
thinking  apparatus.  All  devils  use 
Chicago  Tongue  as  bait.  C  In  way  of 
strictest  justice,  though,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  dealers  in  Chi- 
cago Tongue  are  often  innocent  of 
wrong  intent — that  is,  they  do  not 
know  it  is  loaded.  And  when  the 
boomerang  comes  back  they  are 
so  surprised  and  grieved,  and  hurt! 
and  they  lift  their  hands  in  inno- 
cence and  assume  the  pose  of  mar- 
tyrdom. C.  Every  large  newspaper 
office  is  the  scene  of  a  seething 
discontent.  Peace  is  never  declared 
— war  reigns  eternally.  The  public 
probably  knows  nothing  of  these 
plottings,counter-plottings,curses, 
revilings,  jealousies.  The  trouble 
is  under  the  surface,  just  as  much 
as  are  the  loves,  jealousies  and 
heartaches  Below-Stairs.  The  im- 
passive face  of  Jeems,  as  he  stands 
behind  his  master's  chair,  tells  no 
tale.  CIt  is  the  business  of  Jeems 
to  see  nothing — and  everything — 
to  hear  nothing  and  repeat  noth- 
ing. This  if  he  is  an  artist  in  his 
line,  for  woe  is  Jeems  if  he  brings 
the  troubles  of  Below-Stairs  to  his 
master's  ears,  hoping  thereby  to 
find  favor.  For  we  hate  the  man 


who  brings  us  trouble.  In  the  olden 
time  the  messenger  who  brought 
tidings  of  disaster  paid  for  his 
temerity  with  his  head.  On  the 
other  hand,  blessed  are  the  feet  of 
him  who  bringeth  glad  tidings:  he 
shall  be  rewarded  with  a  necklace 
of  gold,  and  he  shall  choose  for  his 
own,  from  the  fairest  daughters  of 
earth.  <L  I  have  spoken  of  the  con- 
stant friction,  faction  and  fight  that 
exist  in  every  newspaper  office. 
The  truth  of  this  is  classic,  but  the 
Underground  Fight  is  everywhere 
where  many  men  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  a  like  occupation.  The 
Army  is  a  hot-bed  of  gossip.  The 
Church  is  just  as  bad,  and  if  a  his- 
tory of  ecclesiastical  rancor  were 
written  it  would  reveal  an  inferno 
of  hate.  And  then  the  Sons  of 
Esculapius — every  blessed  one  of 
them  carries  two  or  three  hammers 
in  his  kipsy,  this  besides  the  one 
he  has  constantly  in  use.  In  fact 
the  Sons  have  formed  themselves 
into  one  gigantic  orchestra,  and 
the  only  piece  they  play  is  the  An- 
vil Chorus.  C,  Newspaper  offices 
are  mentioned  because  there  the 
pot  seems  to  seethe  and  boil  and 
spit  with  greatest  glee.  Hate,  jeal- 
ousy and  rage  continually  feed  the 
flame.  Possibly  the  reason  the  fires 
of  strife  are  never  banked  in  a 
newspaper  office  is  because  the 
men  work  under  an  intense  nerv- 
ous pressure.  There  is  hot  haste, 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  81 


and  broken  hours  of  rest,  and  al- 
ways stimulants  in  way  of  tobacco, 
drink  and  drugs.  Hence  there  are 
sharp  answers,  snubbings,  marble 
faces,  icy  hands  and  bitter  hearts; 
for  despondency  follows  fast  where 
good  cheer  is  reinforced  by  drink. 
Then  beside,  three-fourths  of  the 
matter  printed  in  the  average  daily 
paper  is  a  record  of  strife,  and  the 
workers  become  imbued  with  it. 
When  a  young  man  goes  into  a 
metropolitan  newspaper  office  as  a 
reporter,  he  is  given  a  table  among 
forty  other  tables,  where  men  with 
hats  over  their  eyes  write  in  fever- 
ish haste.  Possibly  here  and  there 
are  those  sitting  in  idleness  with 
feet  on  the  table.  These  men  have 
done  their  tasks  for  the  day  and 
are  watching  the  clock,  waiting  for 
the  hour  when  they  are  allowed  to 
leave.  Our  new  man  not  having 
much  to  do,  gets  to  talking  with 
one  of  these  idlers  —  they  go  out 
together  to  get  a  drink.  At  the  bar 
are  other  young  men,  and  these 
are  pointed  out  by  the  new-found 
friend,  and  jerky  scraps  of  their 
history  given,  which  seem  to  cover 
every  crime  in  the  calendar,  and  ev- 
ery phase  of  iniquity  that  brutishbe- 
ings  could  devise.  These  so-called 
rogues  are  employees  of  the  same 
concern  that  employs  the  Glib  In- 
former. tlThe  Greenhorn  dares 
to  remark  that  they  do  not  look 
so  bad  as  that,  and  then  he  is  reas- 


sured by  facts  and  dates,  and  times 
and  places.  C  Should  the  Green- 
horn stick  to  his  new  friend,  he  is 
quickly  introduced  into  a  clique 
and  becomes  a  part  of  the  jealousy 
and  cruel  bickering  of  the  place. 
He  is  pushed  this  way  and  that 
by  those  with  stronger  minds — 
or  more  experience — takes  part 
in  plottings  to  oust  certain  men, 
not  fully  knowing  why,  and  in  a 
few  months — a  year  perhaps — gets 
the  Blue  Envelope  himself.  He 
does  not  realize  why  he  should  be 
discharged,  because  he  is  not  aware 
that  hate  and  jealousy  have  inocu- 
lated his  mind,  but  these  things 
are  beginning  to  reveal  themselves 
in  his  work.  The  life  of  a  man  in 
any  one  metropolitan  newspaper 
office  is  very  short.  A  year,  say, 
is  about  the  limit,  when  out  he 
goes,  penniless,  to  look  for  an- 
other job.  C  Should  any  man  hold 
his  place  for  two  years  or  more,  it 
is  because  he  has  religiously  avoid- 
ed mixing  in  factions ;  he  has  lent 
his  ear  to  no  plots;  listened  to  no 
scandal;  bore  no  bad  news;  gloried 
in  no  man's  downfall.  And  when 
you  find  a  veteran  like,  say,  Ches- 
ter S.  Lord  of  The  Sun,  you  know 
him  to  be  a  man  who  is  above  all 
idle  gossip,  bickering,  quibbling 
and  jealousy — who  takes  no  part 
in  schemes  and  plots,  and  who 
will  not  hearken  to  them  in  others. 
The  man  who  cannot  enjoy  a  good 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  82 


position  without  plotting  to  dis- 
lodge some  one  else,  is  laying  a 
fuse  that  will  cause  himself  to  be 
lifted  into  space  very  shortly.  <L  A 
ludicro-tragic  feature  of  Chicago 
Tongue  is  that  those  who  deal  in 
it  most,  always  are  full  of  griev- 
ances and  wails,  because,  they  al- 
lege, other  folks  are  talking  about 
them.  Indeed,  this  is  their  excuse 
for  the  constant  use  of  the  ham- 
mer,—  that  some  one  is  "knock- 
ing on  them."  They  mistake  the 
sound  of  their  own  hammers  for 
that  of  others.  C  Any  man  who 
plots  another's  undoing  is  digging 
his  own  grave.  Every  politician 
who  voices  innuendoes,  and  hints 
of  base  wrong  about  a  rival,  is 
blackening  his  own  character.  For 
a  time  he  may  seem  to  succeed, 
but  the  end  is  sure  —  it  is  defeat 
and  death.  All  those  plotters  of 
the  French  Revolution  who  worked 
the  guillotine  in  double  shifts  were 
at  last  dragged  to  the  scaffold  and 
pushed  under  the  knife.  C  The 
hate  we  sow  finds  lodgment  in 
our  hearts  and  the  crop  is  nettles 
that  Fate  unrelentingly  demands 
we  shall  gather.  They  who  live  by 
the  hammer  shall  perish  by  the 
hammer.  C,If  you  work  in  a  de- 
partment store,  a  bank,  a  railroad 
office,  a  factory,  I  beg  of  you,  on 
your  life,  do  not  knock.  Speak  ill 
of  no  one,  and  listen  to  no  idle 
tales.  Whether  the  bitter  things 


told  are  true  or  not,  has  no  bear- 
ing on  the  issue.  To  repeat  an 
unkind  truth  is  just  as  bad  as  to 
invent  a  lie.  If  some  one  has  spoken 
ill  of  me,  do  not  be  so  foolish  as 
to  hope  to  curry  favor  by  telling 
me  of  it.  CThe  "housecleaning" 
that  occurs  in  the  offices  of  com- 
panies and  corporations  every  lit- 
tle while  comes  as  a  necessity.  In 
a  small  establishment  the  head  of 
the  house  can  usually  pooh-pooh 
the  bickering  out  of  the  window, 
but  in  large  concerns  where  many 
men  are  troubled  with  lint  on  the 
lungs,  and  everybody  seems  to  have 
forgotten  his  work,  just  to  "chew," 
then  self-protection  prompts  the 
manager  to  clean  house.  It  is  the 
only  thing  he  can  do  to  preserve 
the  life  of  the  concern — out  go 
the  bacteria.  C  It  is  said  that  Mr. 
James  Gordon  Bennett,  proprietor 
of  the  New  York  Herald,  comes 
home  from  Europe,  only  to  dis- 
charge, peremptorily,  every  em- 
ployee in  his  service.  At  regular 
intervals  the  place  gets  honey- 
combed with  plot  and  counter- 
plot, hate,  jealousy  and  factional 
folly,  and  the  master,  having  no 
time  to  sift  the  lies  or  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  fishwife  gossip,  just  cleans 
the  coop  from  cellar  to  cockloft  of 
good  and  bad  alike.  CIt  is  very 
likely  that  if  Mr.  Bennett  remained 
in  personal  charge  of  his  estate  he 
could  keep  the  Chicago  Tongue  in 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  83 


subjection,  but  being  away,  hate 
permeates  the  structure  and  the 
Augean  act  is  positively  necessary. 
C  I  suppose  there  are  institutions 
where  Chicago  Tongue  is  to  a  great 
degree  obliterated,  thro'  the  strong 
personality  of  the  man  at  the  helm. 
I  have  seen  schools  where  the  gen- 
erous spirit  of  one  man  filled  the 
whole  place.  But  the  man  who  is 
great  enough  to  flavor  a  newspaper 
plant  with  love  and  patience,  I 
fear  has  not  yet  been  found.  C  And 
of  this  never  for  a  moment  doubt, 
that  the  man  who  manages  suc- 
cessfully a  great  railroad,  factory, 
bank  or  other  enterprise,  is  one 
who  neither  listens  to,  nor  bears 
tales  to  any  person  of  what  this 
one  says  or  does.  He  treats  all 
with  courtesy  and  fairness,  and 
like  the  great  and  loving  Lincoln, 
when  his  generals  were  accused, 
deducts  seventy-five  per  cent  from 
every  accusation  and  throws  the  re- 
mainder in  the  waste-basket — ac- 
tions alone  count.  tL  Where  many 
men  are  employed,  there  are  always 
some  who  are  full  of  schemes  and 
plots  for  more  pay,  shorter  hours 
or  favors  generally.  They  scheme 
to  have  one  foreman  "bounced" 
in  order  to  have  another  man,  who 
will  help  their  cause,  put  in  charge. 
Should  success  follow  their  efforts, 
and  the  old  foreman  be  replaced, 
the  first  move  of  the  new  man  will 
probably  be  to  discharge  the  con- 


spirators who  helped  him.  Men 
who  conspire,  and  plot,  and  who 
lend  a  ready  ear  to  the  idea  of  a 
strike,  are  marked  on  every  time- 
book  for  dismissal  when  the  hour 
is  ripe.  And  whenever  you  find  a 
newspaper  man  or  a  printer  who 
spends  half  his  time  looking  for  a 
job,  you  can  rest  assured  that  he 
is  one  who  carries  a  large  cargo  of 
Chicago  Tongue.  <lYou  can  never 
stand  in  with  the  boss  by  telling 
him  of  those  who  are  laggards.  The 
only  way  you  can  win  his  favor  is 
by  setting  the  loafers  a  pace.  He 
knows  all  about  the  loafers — God 
help  him!  for  if  he  did  not  he 
could  never  successfully  manage 
an  institution.  «1  No  man  can  ever 
succeed  who  hopes  to  get  a  better 
position  by  defaming  or  dragging 
down  the  reputation  of  another. 
There  is  but  one  way  to  win,  and 
that  is  to  do  your  work  well,  and 
speak  ill  of  no  one,  not  even  as  a 
matter  of  truth.  Any  other  course 
leads  to  tears,  woful  waste  of  life- 
force,  and  oblivion.  There  is  only 
one  way  to  win  the  favor  of  good 
men,  and  there  is  only  one  way  you 
can  secure  the  smile  of  God,  and 
that  is  to  do  your  work  as  well  as 
you  can,  and  be  kind,  and  be  kind. 

Clnterest  a  person  in  useful  em- 
ployment and  you  are  transform- 
ing Chaos  into  Cosmos.  Blessed 
is  the  man  who  has  found  his  work. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  84 


OUR  OTHER  SELF. 
Work  to  please  yourself 
and  you  develop  and 
strengthen  the  artistic 
conscience.  Cling  to 


that  and  it  shall  be  your  mentor  in 
times  of  doubt:  you  need  no  other. 
There  are  writers  who  would  scorn 
to  write  a  muddy  line,  and  would 
hate  themselves  for  a  year  and  a 
day  should  they  dilute  their  thought 
with  the  platitude  of  the  fear-rid- 
den peoples.  Be  yourself  and  speak 
your  mind  to-day,  though  it  con- 
tradict all  you  have  said  before. 
And  above  all,  in  art,  work  to 
please  yourself — that  Other  Self 
that  stands  over  and  behind  you 
looking  over  your  shoulder,  watch- 
ing your  every  act,  word  and  deed 
—  knowing  your  every  thought. 
Michael  Angelo  would  not  paint  a 
picture  on  order.  "I  have  a  critic 
who  is  more  exacting  than  you," 
said  Meissonier,  "it  is  my  Other 
Self."  €1  Rosa  Bonheur  painted 
pictures  just  to  please  her  Other 
Self,  and  never  gave  a  thought  to 
any  one  else,  and  having  painted 
to  please  herself,  she  made  her 
appeal  to  the  great  Common  Heart 
of  humanity — the  tender,  the  no- 
ble, the  receptive,  the  earnest,  the 
sympathetic,  the  lovable.  That  is 
why  Rosa  Bonheur  stands  first 
among  women  artists  of  all  time: 
she  worked  to  please  her  Other 
Self.  CThat  is  the  reason  Rem- 


brandt, who  lived  at  the  same  time 
Shakespeare  lived,  is  to-day  with- 
out a  rival  in  portraiture.  He  had 
the  courage  to  make  an  enemy. 
When  at  work  he  never  thought  of 
any  one  but  his  Other  Self,  and 
so  he  infused  soul  into  every  can- 
vas. The  limpid  eyes  look  down 
into  yours  from  the  walls  and  tell 
of  love,  pity,  earnestness  and  deep 
sincerity.  Man,  like  Deity,  creates 
in  his  own  image,  and  when  he  por- 
trays some  one  else,  he  pictures 
himself,  too — this  provided  his 
work  is  Art.  If  it  is  but  an  imita- 
tion of  something  seen  somewhere, 
or  done  by  some  one  else,  or  done 
to  please  a  patron  with  money,  no 
breath  of  life  has  been  breathed 
into  its  nostrils  and  it  is  nothing, 
save  possibly  dead  perfection — no 
more,  il  Is  it  easy  to  please  your 
Other  Self?  Try  it  for  a  day.  Be- 
gin to-morrow  morning  and  say, 
'This  day  I  will  live  as  becomes 
a  man.  I  will  be  filled  with  good 
cheer  and  courage.  I  will  do  what 
is  right;  I  will  work  for  the  high- 
est; I  will  put  soul  into  every  hand- 
grasp,  every  smile,  every  expres- 
sion— into  all  my  work.  I  will  live 
to  satisfy  my  Other  Self."tL  You 
think  it  is  easy?  Try  it  for  a  day. 

CRecognize  that  a  line  of  conduct 
that  may  be  right  under  one  con- 
dition may  be  evil  when  pushed 

too  far  ^^^^^^^^.^^^^^i^^i 


CONTEMPLATION  S 


Page  85 


|f||IME  AND  CHANCE.  The  subject  is 
Mm  rather  complex,  Dearie,  so  I  '11  have  to 
mm  explain  it  to  you.  The  first  point  is  that 
there  is  not  so  very  much  difference  in  the 
intelligence  of  people  after  all.  The  great 
man  is  not  so  great  as  folks  think,  and  the 
dull  man  is  not  quite  so  stupid  as  he  seems. 
The  difference  in  our  estimates  of  men  lies 
in  the  fact  that  one 

o 


join 


man  is  able  to  get 
his  goods  into  the 
show-window  &  the 
other  fellow  is  not 
aware  that  he  has 
any  show-window 
or  any  goods. 
"The  soul  knows  all 
things,  and  knowl- 
edge is  only  a  re- 
membering," says 
Emerson. 

This  seems  a  very 
broad  statement;  & 
yet  the  fact  remains 
that  the  vast  major- 
ity of  men  know  a 
thousand  times  as 
much  as  they  are 
aware  of.  In  the  si- 
lent depths  of  sub- 
consciousness lie 
myriads  of  truths, 
each  awaiting  a  time 
when  itsowner  shall 
call  it  forth.  To  util- 
ize these  stored  up 
thoughts  you  must 
express  them  to  oth- 
ers; and  to  express  well  your  soul  has  to 
soar  into  this  sub-conscious  realm  where  you 
have  cached  these  net  results  of  experience. 
CIn  other  words,  you  must  "come  out" — 
get  out  of  self — away  from  self-conscious- 
ness, into  the  region  of  partial  oblivion  — 
away  from  the  boundaries  of  time  and  the 
limitations  of  space.  The  great  painter  for- 
gets all  in  the  presence  of  his  canvas;  the 
writer  is  oblivious  to  his  surroundings;  the 
singer  floats  away  on  the  wings  of  melody 
(and  carries  the  audience  with  her);  the  or- 
ator pours  out  his  soul  for  an  hour,  and  it 
seems  to  him  as  if  barely  five  minutes  had 
passed,  so  wrapt  and  lost  is  he  in  his  exalted 


theme.  C  When  you  reach  the  heights  of 
sublimity,  and  are  expressing  your  highest 
and  best,  you  are  in  a  partial  trance  condi- 
tion. And  all  men  who  enter  this  condition 
surprise  themselves  by  the  quantity  of  knowl- 
edge and  the  extent  of  the  insight  they  pos- 
sess. And  some  going  a  little  deeper  into  this 
trance  condition  than  others,  and  knowing 
nothing  of  the  mir- 

this  brotherhood 
of  Consecrated  Lives  re- 
quires no  particular  rites 
of  initiation — no  ceremo- 
nial— no  recommenda- 
You  belong  when  you  are 


tions 

worthy.  Those  who  belong  to  the 
Brotherhood  feel  the  absolute  noth- 
ingness of  the  world  of  society, 
churches,  fashion,  politics  and  busi- 
ness; and  realize  strongly  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Unseen  World  of 
Truth,  Love  and  Beauty, 
tl  Sheep  and  cattle  go  in  droves, 
while  a  lion  simply  flocks  with  its 
mate  —  and  lets  it  go  at  that. 
C  Whenever  any  good  comes  our 
way,  let  us  enjoy  it  to  the  fullest, 
and  then  pass  it  along,  in  another 
form  J^^^rt^j^^m±&s&^&r4g& 


aculous  storing  up 
oftruthinthecellsof 
sub-consciousness, 
jump  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  their  intel- 
ligence is  guided  by 
a  spirit  not  theirs. 
When  an  individual 
reaches  this  conclu- 
sion he  commences 
to  wither  at  the  top, 
for  he  relies  on  the 
dead,  and  ceases  to 
feed  thewellsprings 
of  hissub-conscious 
self.  €1  The  mind  is 
a  dual  affair— ob- 
jective and  subject- 
ive. The  objective 
mind  sees  all,  hears 
all,  reasons  things 
out.  The  subjective 
mind  stores  up  and 
only  gives  out  when 
the  objective  mind 
sleeps.  And  as  few 
men  ever  cultivate 
the  absorbed, reflec- 
tive or  semi-trance 
state,  where  the  objective  mind  rests,  they 
never  really  call  on  their  sub-conscious 
treasury  for  its  stores.  They  are  always  self- 
conscious.  CL  A  man  in  commerce,  where 
men  prey  on  their  kind,  must  be  alive  and 
alert  to  what  is  going  on  around  him,  or 
while  he  dreams,  his  competitor  will  seize 
upon  his  birthright.  And  so  you  see  why 
poets  are  poor  and  artists  often  beg. 
And  the  summing  up  of  this  sermonette  is 
that  all  men  are  equally  rich,  only  some 
through  fate  are  able  to  muster  their  mental 
legions  on  the  plains  of  their  being  and  count 
them,  while  others  are  never  able  to  do  so. 
CBut  what  think  you  is  necessary  before  a 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  86 


person  comes  into  possession  of  his  sub- 
conscious treasures?  Well,  I  '11  tell  you :  It  is 
not  ease,  nor  prosperity,  nor  requited  love, 
nor  worldly  security — not  these,  Dearie;  no. 
CI  "You  sing  well,"  said  the  master,  impa- 
tiently, to  his  best  pupil,  "but  you  will  never 
sing  divinely  until  you  have  given  your  all 
for  love,  and  then  been  neglected  and  reject- 
ed, and  scorned  and 
beaten,  and  left  for 
dead.  Then,  if  you 
do  not  exactly  die, 
you  will  come  back, 
and  when  the  world 
hears  your  voice  it 
will  mistake  you  for 
an  angel  and  fall  at 
your  feet." 
And  the  moral  is, 
that  as  long  as  you 
are  satisfied  &  com- 
fortable, you  use 
only  the  objective 
mind  and  live  in  the 
world  of  sense.  But 
let  love  be  torn  from 
your  grasp  and  flee 
as  a  shadow— living 
only  as  a  memory 
in  a  haunting  sense 
of  loss;  let  death 
come  and  the  sky 
shut  down  over  less 
worth  in  the  world; 
or  stupid  misunder- 
standing and  crush- 
ing defeat  grind  you 
into  the  dust,  then 
you  may  arise,  forgetting  time  and  space  and 
self,  and  take  refuge  in  mansions  not  made 
with  hands;  and  find  a  certain  sad,  sweet 
comfort  in  the  contemplation  of  treasures 
stored  up  where  moth  and  rust  do  not  cor- 
rupt, and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through 
and  steal.  41  And  thus  looking  out  into  the 
Eternal,  you  forget  the  present  and  enter  into 
the  Land  of  Sub-Consciousness  — the  Land 
of  Spirit,  where  yet  dwell  the  gods  of  ancient 
and  innocent  days.  C  Is  it  worth  the  cost? 

HLAGIARISM  AND  KABOJOLISM. 
There  is  that  which  is  called  plagiar- 
ism, and  I  trust  that  upon  this  theme 


no  quibbler  will  challenge  my  fitnessto speak. 
C.  A  frivolous  person  has  defined  plagiarism 
as  the  act  of  taking  your  own  wherever  you 
find  it.  I  shall  not,  however,  attempt  to  be- 
cloud the  subject  with  smartness,  but  will 
deal  with  it  seriously  and  sincerely  as  is  meet, 
ti  Plagiarism  consists  in  appropriating  as 
your  own  the  Good  Stuff  of  another,  tl  There 
are  three  degrees  of 

ONSECRATED  Lives! 


You  meet  and  you  part, 
but  you  each  feel  a  firmer 
impulse  to  keep  the  light 
burning — the  altar  light  to 
Truth,  Love,  Simplicity  and  Beauty. 
No  other  bond  is  required  than  that 
of  devotion  to  Truth,  the  passion  of 
listening  in  the  Silence,  the  prayer 
for  Wholeness  and  Harmony,  the 
earnest  desire  to  have  your  life  re- 
flect to  the  Good. 

C  When  we  get  to  heaven,  if  all  these 
fine  fellows  who  never  lived  except 
in  books  are  not  there,  it  will  be  a 
lonely  place,  cursed  with  a  monoto- 
nous felicity. 

C  It  is  difficult  to  improve  on  the 
plan  of  God;  many  have  tried  it  but 
to  their  sorrow 


this  moral  malady: 
petitplagiarism, pla- 
giarism in  second 
degree,  and  grand 
plagiarism.  C,  Petit 
plagiarism  consists 
in  lifting  the  simple 
thoughts  &  senten- 
ces; plagiarism  in 
the  second  degree, 
consists  in  lifting 
scenes  &  chapters; 
&  grand  plagiarism 
consists  in  seizing 
the  whole  book  and 
putting  your  name 
on  the  title  page. 
Grand  plagiarism 
may  be  committed 
through  the  conniv- 
ance of  the  plagiaree 
—  in  which  case  the 
offense  is  condon- 
ed. Judge  Gaynor 
has  recently  ruled 
that  an  injunction  in 
such  a  case  does  not 
lie,  altho' the  parties 
may.Cl  The  antithe- 
sis of  plagiarism  is  kabojolism.  This  offense 
consists  in  attributing  to  another  Good  Stuff 
which  he  never  expressed;  and,  in  short,  is 
simply  plagiarism  placed  wrong  side  out,  or 
more  properly,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  ex- 
pression, turned  t'other  end  to. 
The  simplest  and  most  common  form  of  ka- 
bojolism consists  in  quoting  some  absurd  or 
mythical  personage.  In  small  towns  the  habit 
is  as  plentiful  as  the  Jigger  in  July;  and  the 
Bucolic  Philosopher  at  the  Grocery  con- 
stantly refers  to  Ol'  Bill  Jones,  and  states 
what  he  could  easily  prove  had  Ol'  Bill  not 
passed  to  the  Realm  of  Shade. 
Dickens  pictures  this  phase  of  kabojolism 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  87 


when  he  has  Mrs.  Gamp  constantly  refer  to 
her  mythical  friend,  Mrs.  Harris. 
Kabojolism  in  the  second  degree  consists  in 
stating  things  tinted  with  risque  and  flavored 
like  heinzbeans,  for  which  you  do  not  wish 
to  stand  sponsor,  but  which  you  feel  should 
be  said  in  the  interest  of  the  Higher  Criti- 
cism. Therefore,  you  say  them,  and  give  an- 
other credit.  C.  Ka- 
bojolism is  no  new 
thing:  Thucydides 
tells  of  how  Aristo- 
phanes referred  to 
the  great  speech  of 
Pericles  over  the 
Athenian  dead  he- 
roes as  "the  best 
thing  that  Aspasia 
ever  wrote." 
In  the  days  of  Au- 
gustus Caesar  a  part 
of  the  duties  of  the 
Questorwasto  write 
the  orations  for  the 
Emperor.  This  was 
well  understood,  & 
nobody  attempted  to 
dodge  the  proposi- 
tion. Time  does  not 
change  human  na- 
ture much,  for  just 
recently  a  zealous 
follower  of  Grover 
Cleveland  put  forth 
the  claim  that  he  was 
the  only  president 
since  Lincoln  who 
wrote  his  own  mes- 


daughter  who  could  write  a  good  oration, 
than  of  any  oration  he  could  possibly  write 
himself.  I  would  be — would  n't  you? 
I  once  advertised  one  of  my  workmen  as  an 
Infant  Prodigy — he  was  neither  an  infant 
nor  a  prodigy — but  he  looked  the  part.  In 
the  language  of  my  friend,  Colonel  Ed. 
Geers,  the  Prodigy  could  not  trot  a  little  bit, 
but  he  was  a  tre- 

LL  our  belongings  should 


mean  much  to  us,  and 
great  care  should  be  ex- 
ercised in  selection.  We 
need  only  a  few  things, 
but  each  of  these  things  should  sug- 
gest utility,  strength,  harmony  and 
truth.  All  of  our  actions  must  be 
suggestive  of  peace  and  right.  Not 
only  must  we  speak  truth,  but  we 
must  live  it.  Our  lives  should  be 
consecrated  to  the  good — lives  con- 
secrated to  Truth  and  Beauty.  Con- 
secrated Lives! 

C  Speak  to-day  what  you  think  is 
true,  and  contradict  it  all  to-morrow 
if  necessary. 

CThe  greater  comprehends  the  less; 
but  the  less  cannot  comprehend  the 
greater      ,&^2>  ass&> 


mendous  looker.  So 
I  showed  him  to  the 
visitors  &  they  were 
wonderfully  much 
impressed. 
The  genuine  crack- 
erjack  work  about 
the  place  was  done 
by  small,  red-haired 
&  bow-legged  men 
with  freckles,  and 
hand-me-down  suits 
and  diffident  man- 
ners. As  long  as  I 
could  keep  the  Pro- 
digy from  talking, 
and  at  night  destroy 
all  the  work  he  did 
during  the  day,  as 
Penelope  raveled 
the  shroud,  I  was 
all  right.  <L  After  a 
time  the  Prodigy  af- 
fected a  short  velvet 
jacket,  and  a  tailor- 
made  codpiece.  He 
soon  became  known 
as  the  Wonder  of 


sages.  CThe  late  Judge  Hubbard  of  Gene- 
seo,  New  York,  once  gave  a  particularly 
eloquent  and  forceful  Fourth  of  July  oration. 
After  the  address  a  local  joker  stepped  up, 
shook  hands  with  the  speaker  and  asked  him 
this  question,  "Judge,  which  one  of  your 
daughters  wrote  that  speech?" 
The  Judge  might  have  parried  the  gentle 
thrust,  but  instead  the  truthful  man  answered, 
"Oh,  Nellie  is  the  author  of  it!"  Then  see- 
ing the  smiles  on  the  faces  of  the  bystanders 
he  continued,  "Nellie  is  the  author  of  the 
speech,  but  as  I  am  the  author  of  Nellie,  I 
claim  the  speech."  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
the  Judge  was  much  more  proud  of  his 


the  World.  Worse 
than  that,  he  began  to  believe  it,  and  then 
either  he  or  I  had  to  go.  C  He  happened  to 
be  it.  H  Voltaire  was  more  given  to  kabo- 
jolitis  than  any  other  writer  I  now  recall.  He 
cited  authorities  numerous  and  sent  all  the 
savants  of  Europe  digging  in  the  libraries  for 
men  and  books  that  never  lived  outside  the 
figment  of  his  own  pigment. 
Grand  kabojolism  consists  in  attributing  to 
another  a  whole  book  that  you  yourself  have 
Dashed  Off.  Not  long  ago  one  Tark  Booth- 
ington  wrote  a  book.  Bone,  Marl  &  Company 
offered  to  publish  it  if  my  name  could  be 
used  as  author.  There  was  a  thousand  dollars 
in  it  for  Tark,  and  as  much  for  me,  but  the 


C  O  N  T  EMPLATI  O  A  S 


Page  88 


book  was  so  bad  I  stood  firm  and  absolutely 
refused  to  be  bribed.  My  friend  Edgar  Saltus 
says  in  his  monthly  gallimaufry  that  Daudet 
used  to  employ  'prentice  talent  on  his  books. 
Some  of  Daudet's  boys  did  remarkably  well 
for  green  hands,  but  they  would  occasionally 
lapse,  as  even  careful  writers  may.  A  lady 
reader  of  Daudet's  Works  having  stumbled 
upon  a  beautiful  an- 
achronism wrote  to 
Daudet  and  put  him 
straight.  Thereupon 
instead  of  writing  a 
courteous  note  of 
thanks  to  the  lady, 
Daudet  so  far  for- 
got himself  as  to  re- 
ply, "Dear  Madam: 
I  have  not  read  the 
book  in  question,  & 
what 's  more,  I  do 
not  intend  to." 
When  Rudolph  von 
Liebich  and  Amy 
Fay  were  pupils  of 
Franz  Liszt,  they 
were  once  making 
merry  over  a  musi- 
cal composition  by 
the  Duke  of  Weim- 
ar. "Have  a  care, 
children,"  said  the 
Master  in  his  gentle 
way,  "Have  a  care, 
children,  how  you 
make  fun  of  the  mu- 
sic of  princes— you 
can  never  tell  who 
wrote  it."  CI  At  least  three  instances  are  on 
record  where  men  have  created  a  nation  that 
never  existed  and  given  the  people  a  litera- 
ture, a  science  and  a  religion  complete.  Chat- 
terton  started  to  do  something  like  that,  when 
he  slipped  his  hawser  and  drifted  to  Bedlam. 
CI  More  than  once  it  has  happened  that  men 
have  written  books  and  knowing  their  own 
names  could  not  give  them  sufficient  ballast 
have  put  the  MSS.  on  Deity.  Indeed,  this  has 
been  a  not  uncommon  expedient — to  attri- 
bute authorship  of  books  and  children  to 
God.  This  lets  all  parties  out  from  under, 
absolves  from  blame,  and  if  there  is  credit  to 
be  gotten  later  some  one  always  shows  up 


and  claims  it  as  Agent  for  the  Principal. 
CI  The  law  defines  a  whole  round  of«dire 
deeds  and  puts  the  blame  on  God  — man  is 
let  off;  but  there  be  lawyers  who  would  like 
to  get  a  service  on  God  and  make  Him  show 
cause,  mulcting  Him  for  damages,  or  placing 
Him  in  contempt  for  non-appearance.  This 
tendency  to  put  the  blame  on  somebody,  and 
finally  falling  back 

HE  man  of  the  Consecra- 


ted Life  may  mix  with  the 
world,  and  do  the  world's 
business,  but  for  him  it  is 
not  the  true  world,  for 
hidden  away  in  his  heart  he  keeps 
burning  a  lamp  before  a  shrine  ded- 
icated to  Love  and  Beauty.  The 
Adept  only  converses  at  his  best 
with  Adept,  and  he  does  this  thro' 
self-protection.  To  hear  the  world's 
coarse  laugh  in  his  Holy  of  Holies 
—  no!  and  so  around  him  is  a  sacred 
circle,  and  within  it  only  the  Elect 
are  allowed  to  enter. 
C  Modern  Martyrdom  is  the  sweet 
apotheosis  of  the  things  we  do  not 
care  to  avoid. 

CA  man's  word  is  only  valuable 
when  it  is  not  for  sale 


on  God,  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  in 
locating  Him,  is  a 
very  ancient  plan. 
CL  The  life  of  the  in- 
dividual mirrors  the 
life  of  the  race.  In 
my  boyhood's  days 
we  had  a  hired  man 
named  Joshua.  If 
anything  was  ever 
lost,  stolen,  broken 
or  misused,  we  al- 
ways said,  "Josh, 
he  done  it!" 
That  scheme  of  Jo- 
seph Smith,  disre- 
spectfully referred 
to  by  the  ribald  as 
"Joe  Smith  of  Nau- 
voo,"  was  no  new 
thing.  Six  men  in 
the  history  of  the 
world  have  done  the 
thing  better.  Smith 
wrote  a  fairish  book, 
buried  it  deep  in  the 
ground,  and  at  the 
right  time  dug  it  up 
and  flashed  it,  with  God's  name  on  the  title- 
page.  So  far  God  has  written  no  pamphlet 
repudiating  it  and  the  various  other  books 
attributed  to  Him. 

That  scheme  of  the  "Cardiff  Giant"  was 
worked  out  on  the  suggestion  of  men  who 
assisted  Smith  with  his  Hot  Stuff.  The  only 
difference  was  that  Smith's  piece  de  resist- 
ance-was  a  book,  and  the  other  fellows' was 
a  giant.  Both  were  prepared  by  hand,  both 
planted,  both  dug  up. 

The  fellows  attributed  their  giant  to  God,  just 
as  Smith  had  done  with  his  book  —  with  this 
to  their  advantage;  God  has  made  giants,  but 
whether  He  has  made  books  or  not  is  still 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


debatable.  CL  A  rather  curious  complication 
in  the  line  of  kabojolism  came  to  me  a  few 
years  ago.  My  friend,  Colonel  Cudahy  of 
the  Beef  Trust,  who,  they  boastingly  say  in 
Chicago,  was  suckled  by  a  sow,  just  as  Ro- 
mulus and  Remus  were  cared  for  by  the  she- 
wolf,  wrote  a  somewhat  sensational  novel. 
At  least  I  heard  he  had  written  a  novel  in- 
spired by  the  swish 
of  a  petticoat,  and 
although  I  had  not 
seen  the  book,  yet 
following  a  habit  ac- 
quired while  work- 
ing on  the  New  York 
Sun,  I  reviewed  the 
book  first  and  trust- 
ed to  luck  to  read  it 
later.  Unfortunate- 
ly for  me  it  trans- 
pired that  Colonel 
Cudahy  had  written 
no  book  —  he  had 
only  contemplated  having  Samuel  Eberly 
Gross  write  one  for  him. 
However,  the  review  had  gone  out  to  the 
syndicate,  and  it  could  not  be  gotten  back. 
Hardly  had  my  critical  comments  on  Colo- 
nel Cudahy's  work  appeared  than  McClurg 
&  Company  telegraphed  me  for  a  hundred 
copies,  thinking  I  was  the  publisher.  I  ad- 
vised Aleck  that  if  he  would  forward  me  a 
case  of  six  quarts,  we  would  call  it  square. 
That  disposed  of  him,  but  in  less  than  a 
week,  Charlie  Thorne,  of  Montgomery  Ward 
&  Company,  arrived  in  Sun-Up,  and  the  first 
topic  he  brought  up  was  the  Cudahy  novel. 
Mr.  Thorne  told  me  he  had  read  the  book 
and  considered  my  review  an  impartial  and 
Able  Effort.  In  thus  saying  he  had  read  a 
book  that  had  never  been  written,  Charlie 
revealed  himself  a  peachful  prevaricator,  but 
as  I  had  reviewed  the  work  I  was  hardly  in 
position  to  nail  the  lie.  So  we  just  stood  there 
and  looked  at  each  other  like  two  curs  that  had 
stolen  a  capon.  Happily,  just  then  Ali  Baba 
called  to  me  and  asked  where  I  had  left  the 
shovel.  This  changed  the  subject,  and  I  saw 
Thorne  was  as  much  relieved  as  I. 
The  giving  of  letters  of  recommendation  to 
folks  for  whom  you  have  no  use,  is  a  com- 
mon form  of  petit  kabojolism.  Then  there 
are  big  men  who  often  sell  their  names  to 


Page  89 

boom  things,like  Judge  Cheesemite  of  Keene, 
New  Hampshire,  who  never  weighed  more 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  in  the 
shade,  who  yet  has  his  name  placarded  in 
the  Boyce  Weeklies  as  an  example  of  a  man 
whose  life  was  saved  by  a  certain  Obesity 
Belt  built  at  Jackson,  Michigan. 
There  is  also  that  case  of  George  Stevens,  a 
noted  jester,  justler 
and  all-'round  jack- 
anapes, of  Toledo. 
Stevens  made  the 
fortune  of  one  Jim 
Laroux,  a  muskrat 
Frenchman,  who  in- 
vented a  blood  med- 
icine called  Perun- 
ia,  &  paraded  Stev- 
ens as  one  who  had 
been  snatched  from 
an  untimely  tomb 
by  its  use.  Stevens, 
I  hear,  has  recently 
had  a  misunderstanding  with  Laroux,  and 
has  stated  in  print  that  he  never  even  tasted 
the  bellywash  concocted  by  the  muskrat  rival 
of  Dr.  Pierce.  €1  In  the  meantime  the  mus- 
covy  muskrat  rides  in  an  automobile. 
Love  itself  is  a  form  of  kabojolism,  for  its 
province  is  to  exaggerate  the  excellence  of 
its  subject  and  bestow  a  credit  where  it  is 
not  wholly  due.  The  beautiful,  budding, 
blushing  country  lass,  aged  nineteen,  is  sel- 
dom the  paragon  of  sweetness,  gentleness, 
intellect,  modesty  and  truth  that  we,  editori- 
ally speaking,  in  our  youth  warmly  averred. 
For  a  time  we  succeeded  in  making  her  think 
so,  and  later  we  had  to  gently  undeceive  her, 
otherwise  she  would  have  used  us,  editori- 
ally speaking,  as  a  door-mat.  Life  moves  in 
spirals  —  periodicity  is  everywhere  —  and 
recently  I  myself  was  exposed  to  kabojolitis. 
C  I  was  out  with  Major  Pond  on  a  lecture 
tour,  and  the  Major  prepared  a  circular  set- 
ting forth  the  excellence  of  his  attraction. 
This  circular  made  me  out  to  be  quite  the 
Greatest  Thing  that  ever  happened.  The 
Major  said  my  personal  presence  was  such 
that  the  audience  was  won  before  I  had  said 
a  word;  and  when  I  began  to  talk  the  multi- 
tude hung  upon  my  words  spellbound.  He 
declared  I  was  the  Themistocles  who  would 
lead  the  world  out  of  artistic  bondage. 


O  organization  ever  con- 
tained within  its  ranks  the 
best.  Organization  is  arbi- 
trary &  artificial :  it  is  born 
of  selfishness;  and  at  the 
best  is  a  mere  matter  of  expediency. 
CWe  are  all  children  in  the  Kin- 
dergarten of  God:  and  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  90 


That  settled  it:  I  went  to  Major  Pond  and 
told  him  that  if  this  Themistocles  business 
were  true,  and  I  had  no  doubt  but  that  it 
was,  I  should  have  at  least  One  Hundred 
Dollars  more  a  week. 

At  this  the  Major  fell  in  a  swoon  and  awoke 
swearing;  finally  he  cooled  down  and  ex- 
plained to  me  that  I  should  know  better— 


expecters  of  scale.  C  I  am  fully  convinced 
that  there  is  just  as  much  kabojolism  in  the 
world  as  plagiarism  — just  as  much  undue 
credit  given  as  credit  withheld. 
Let  me  close  with  a  somewhat  sad  but  true 
incident:  In  New  York,  years  ago,  there 
used  to  live  an  elderly  gentleman  with  long 
white  whiskers,  a  linen  duster  and  patriarchal 
ways.  He  was  com- 

ND  so  this  Artist  and  his 
Wife  were  priests  of  Beau- 
ty, and  their  little  girl  was 
a  neophyte;  and  the  room 
where  the  Roman  lamp 
burned  was  filled  with  the  holiness 
of  beauty,  and  no  unkind  thought  or 
wrong  intent  could  exist  there.  Con- 
secrated Lives !  a^> 


the  circularwas  just 
a  case  of  commer- 
cial kabojolism:  — 
credit  where  it  was 
not  due.  He  told  me 
I  was  really  consid- 
erable of  a  chump, 
a  sort  of  wagtongue 
chough, butitwould 
not  be  good  policy 
to  say  so  on  the  bills. 
C  Then  the  Major 
explained  to  me  this 
truth: The  fifty-sev- 
en varieties  of  freak, 

and  all  the  fantastic  tricks,  fussy  airs,  and 
foolish  elevation  of  the  nose  and  chin  of  a 
cantatrice  come  from  the  fact  that  she  reads 
the  newspaper  reports  that  her  impresario 
writes  about  her,  and  takes  them  literally. 
And  this  is  why  all  impresarios  grow  old 
and  senile  early  in  life  — it  comes  from  en- 
during the  contumely  of  the  premiere  dan- 
seuse  and  the  cantatrice,  who  refuse,  wom- 
anlike, to  take  the  small  bills  cum  grano 
salis.  The  reason  so  many  histrions  express 
their  contempt  for  the  horse-blocks  —  and 
everything  else  —  from  the  altitude  of  high 
Olympus,  is  because  they  regard  the  press 
notices  penned  by  the  manager  as  Holy  Writ. 
41  A  woman  I  know  has  a  husband  who  is 
for  her  a  spiritual  sinker,  yet  she  quotes  him 
in  public  and  puts  him  forth  as  an  example 
of  virtue — when,  in  fact,  he  is  quite  the 
other  thing.  Charles  Frohman  once  told  me 
that  he  considered  the  romeike  habit  worse 
than  hitting  the  pipe.  He  said  every  prima 
donna  he  ever  knew,  but  one,  was  puffed  up 
with  the  hallucination  that  she  was  the  dimity 
divinity  of  Orpheus  —  the  favorite  of  the 
gods — all  this  through  the  romeike  dalliance. 
Thus  does  the  lady-star,  who  is  a  sort  of 
ladybug,  grow  great  on  newspaper  guff,  and 
win  the  obese  obeisance  of  toddy  mixers, 
bell-boys,  hack  drivers  and  other  ardent 


monly  known  as  the 
"Bum  Peter  Coop- 
er." At  conventions 
and  all  public  gath- 
erings, his  services 
were  in  demand  at 
two  dollars  per.  All 
he  had  to  do  was  to 
applaud  the  speak- 
ers by  striking  voci- 
ferously on  the  floor 
with  his  cane,  say 
nothing  &  look  like 
the  real  Peter  Coop- 
er. €1  Finally,  through  the  applause  that  al- 
ways greeted  him  when  he  appeared  upon 
the  stage  at  public  meetings,  a  buzzing  blue- 
bottle got  into  his  bonnet,  and  he  became 
possessed  of  the  idea  that  he  was  the  Sure- 
Enough  Peter  Cooper,  and  the  other  man, 
who  built  the  Cooper  Union,  was  the  Bum. 
He  grew  garrulous  and  fell  into  the  habit  of 
referring  to  the  Real  Peter  Cooper  as  a  freak, 
a  fake  and  a  fraud.  As  long  as  the  Bum  was 
quiet,  all  was  well,  but  when  he  began  to 
talk,  his  supporters  were  obliged  to  throw 
him  into  the  Irish  Sea. 
A  good  I-X-L  bum,  if  he  is  a  looker,  has  a 
place,  but  when  it  begins  to  put  on  airs,  some- 
thing always  happens.  The  bum  is  one  of 
society's  luxuries.  In  the  language  of  John 
Randolph,  "the  necessities  we  must  have, 
but  the  luxuries  we  can  do  without." 
The  suggestion  of  one  who  has  dallied  both 
with  plagiaritis  and  kabojolitis  would  be  the 
advice  of  Ali  Baba  to  the  young  Athenian 
who  wanted  to  borrow  twenty-five  obuli  so 
he  could  wed:  Don't. 

At  the  last  all  Art  is  One,  and  the  same  truth 
can  be  stated  of  kabojolism.  And  I  am  fully 
convinced  that  as  all  things  are  held  in  place 
by  the  Opposition  of  Forces,  and  as  the  wind 
is  only  rushing  to  fill  a  Vacuum,  and  the 
flowing  waters  are  working  out  an  equilibri- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  91 


um,  so  kabojolism  is  a  part  of  the  Great 
Plan  to  hold  the  balance  true. 
Some  of  us  are  very  sure  we  are  not  getting 
the  credit  that  is  our  due — we  are  not  ap- 
preciated. If  this  is  true  let  us  take  consola- 
tion in  the  thought  that  we  are  Necessary 
Parts  of  the  Whole,  and  as  we  are  not  getting 
due  credit,  some  one  is  getting  a  credit  that 
is  not  his  due.  All 


is  One,  and  nothing 
really  makes  any 
difference. 

AY  AS  YOU 
GO.  I 'm  not 
so  sure  just 
what  the  Unpardon- 
able Sin  is,  but  I  be- 
lieve it  is  this  dispo- 
sition to  evade  the 
payingofsmallbills. 
41  Ask  the  grocer, 
the  liveryman  or  the 
butcher,whoarethe 
folks  that  contract 
bills  and  never  pay, 
or  pay  when  they 
dam  please,  and  he 
will  tell  you  they  are 
the  aristocrats.  The 
blacksmiths,  stone- 
masons, carpenters 
&  farmers  look  you 
squarely  in  the  eye, 
speak  to  you  frank- 
ly face  to  face,  and 
if  they  promise  to 
pay  you  Saturday 
night,  and  cannot, 
they  come  around 
and  tell  you  why.  I 
have  been  despoil- 
ed of  hard  earned 
dollars,  and  had  my 

reputation  ripped  up  the  back  when  I  ven- 
tured to  ask  for  my  own,  but  never  excepting 
by  those  who  have  a  Thursday. 
If  you  wish  to  lessen  the  worries  of  the  world 
and  scatter  sunshine  as  you  go,  don't  bother 
to  go  a-slumming,  or  lift  the  fallen,  or  trouble 
to  reclaim  the  erring — simply  pay  your  debts 
cheerfully  and  promptly.  It  lubricates  the 
wheels  of  trade,  breaks  up  party  ice,  gives 


tone  to  the  social  system  and  liberates  good 
will.  C,  Pay  as  you  go. 
Especially  pay  the  people  who  work  by  the 
day  and  toil  with  their  hands.  A  dollar  means 
much  to  the  man  who  spades  your  garden  — 
never  humiliate  the  man  by  making  him  ask 
for  his  dollar.  Give  it  to  him  immediately 
the  work  is  done,  and  if  he  did  it  well,  tell 
him  so.  When  the 

HE  success  of  an  individ- 
ual is  usually  damnation 
for  his  children.  Luxury 
enervates  and  kills,  and 
this  is  the  reason  that  the 


race  has  made  such  slow  and  pain- 
ful progress.  All  one  generation  gains 
is  lost  in  the  next.  The  great  nations 
have  died  off  from  the  earth  simply 
because  they  have  succeeded. 
C.The  Jiner  instinct  in  a  man  is 
a  manifestation  of  weakness,  not 
strength.  It  is  a  clutch  to  get  some- 
thing for  nothing,  a  grab  at  good 
which  you  have  not  earned. 
CLTwo  consecrated  lives  constitute 
a  congregation  and  where  they  com- 
mune is  a  temple. 

<L  No  one  knows  a  thing  for  sure 
until  he  tells  it  to  some  one  else. 
C  Is  truth  a  thing  to  hide  in  a  ginger 
jar  and  place  on  a  high  shelf? 
H  Man  cannot  advance  and  leave 
woman  behind 


woman  who  crou- 
ches over  a  sewing 
machine  for  you  all 
day  long,  brings  the 
garment  home,  pay 
her  all  you  owe,  and 
do  not  add  to  her 
troubles  by  exercis- 
ing the  prerogative 
of  one  who  is  pay- 
ing over  money,  to 
flaunt  out  either  in- 
sulting remarks  or 
insulting  manners. 
C  The  Gentle  Man 
shows  his  true  na- 
ture in  his  treatment 
of  social  inferiors; 
and  of  all  damning 
sins,  the  withhold- 
ing of  money  due  a 
working  man  is  the 
worst.  C,Let  us  pay 
as  we  go.  The  cheer- 
fulness &  good  will 
we  give  out  with  our 
money  will  in  turn 
begivenoutbythose 
we  pay  it  to.  C,PaY 
as  you  go. 

USIC  HUN- 
GRY.I'm  for- 
ty miles  from 
a  lemon,  Dear,  and 
the  same  distance  from  a  library,  but  if  my 
memory  serves  me  rightly,  Emerson  once 
said,  "I  would  bathe  me  in  sweet  sounds. 
Ah,  that  would  be  a  rest  and  benediction!" 
And  so  to-night  I 'm  music  hungry.  I  have 
spurred  my  spirit  in  a  vain  attempt  to  write, 
but  the  result  is  a  composition  that  would 
make  you  think  of  a  book  advertisement  by 
Lawrence  Hutton  in  Harper's.  You  know 


CON T EM PLATIONS 


Page  92 


Annie  Besant  told  us  that  the  soul  lived  on 
certain  planes,  and  if  one  would  express 
divine  thoughts,  the  spirit  must  rise  above 
the  lowlands.  I  think  there 's  something  in 
that,  for  one  cannot  be  much  wiser  nor  bet- 
ter than  the  people  he  is  with.  And  to  reach 
an  attitude  where  the  sense  of  sublimity  is 
possible,  I  need  music.  CI  Some  day,  you 
know,  I  am  to  write  a 


beautiful  thing  that 
shall  link  my  name 
with  that  of  Great 
Ones  gone,  but  I 'm 
sure  I  can  never  do 
it  without  you  are 
in  the  next  room  at 
the  piano.  You  will 
have  to  play  each 
morningforanhour 
to  lift  me  into  the 
right  atmosphere,  & 
then  you  can  steal 
out  on  tiptoe  and  I 
will  finish  the  chap- 
ter. When  the  chap- 
ter is  done,  I  '11  read 
it  to  you  and  kiss 
your  cheek  and  you 
will  say  it  is  Sub- 
lime, as  you  ever 
do.  And  what  a  joy 
it  is  that  comes  after 
work  well  done!  It 
is  an  ambrosia  well 
worth  goingthrough 
Hades  to  sip.  But  to 
be  really  happy,you 
must  have  some  one 
with  whom  to  share 
your  joy:  one  can 
bear  grief  alone,  but 
it  takes  two  to  be 
glad.  Peg  Woffing- 
ton  knew  that  when 

she  played  her  part  like  an  angel  of  light, 
for  in  the  wings  she  knew  Sir  Henry  Vane 
was  waiting  with  her  cloak,  and  when  she 
danced  panting  off  the  stage  she  went  straight 
to  his  arms,  oblivious  to  the  roar  of  applause 
and  loud  calls  of  "Bravo !  Bravo ! " — she  only 
heard  his  whispered  words,  "Well  done!" 
C  Yes,  Dear,  I 'm  music  hungry:— hungry 
for  music— and  you. 


HE  VAMPIRE.  William  Marion  Reedy 
holds  the  Mirror  up  to  Nature  as  fol- 
lows: "The  sensation  of  the  day  in 
English  art  is  the  painting,  'The  Vampire,' 
exhibited  recently  at  the  Gallery  in  London. 
It  is  the  work  of  Philip  Burne-Jones,  related 
to  Sir  Edward  Burne-Jones,  the  pre-Ra- 
phaelite  mystic,  friend  of  Swinburne  and 
Rossetti^  and  a  gen 

so-called  "disadvan- 
in  the  life  of  a  child 


HE 

tages 

are  often  its  advantages. 
And  on  the  other  hand, 
"advantages"  are  very  of- 
ten disadvantages  of  a  very  serious 
sort.  To  be  born  in  the  country  of 
poor  parents,  is  no  disadvantage. 
C  We  grow  through  expression,  and 
the  large  colleges,  even  yet,  afford  a 
very  imperfect  means  for  expression 
—  all  is  impression  and  repression 
and  suppression. 

C  By  going  with  a  gang  men  hope 
to  grow  wise.  But  while  wisdom  has 
sometimes  come  to  men  in  solitude, 
it  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  crowd. 
C.  If  your  life  is  to  be  a  genuine  con- 
secration, you  must  be  free.  Only 
the  free  man  is  truthful;  only  the 
heart  that  is  free  is  pure. 
C  Let  's  keep  the  windows  open  to 
the  East,  be  worthy,  and  sometime 
we  shall  know  r&&> 


erally  beautiful 
soul.'  The  painting 
is  remarkable  in  it- 
self for  a  grewsome 
power  of  painting  a 
rather  bitter  moral 
that  is  not  new  now 
any  more  than  when 
Villon,  as  translat- 
ed by  Henley,  sang 
'Booze  &  the  Blow- 
ense  Cops  the  Lot.' 
The  picture  shows 
a  dead  youth,  type 
of  a  murdered  soul, 
and  over  him  bends 
the  vampire  with 
the  face  of  a  woman. 
The  cynical,  bitter 
lesson  is  well  press- 
ed home,  but  there 
is  a  certain  taint  of 
hasheesh  art  about 
it.  The  picture  is 
more  sensational 
than  meritorious  as 
a  creation  in  paint. 
And  of  more  impor- 
tance than  the  pict- 
ure itself  is  the  poem 
written  by  Rudyard 
Kipling  for  it,  who 
is  Mr.  Philip  Burne- 
Jones'  cousin. 
"The  verse  and  the 
picture  remind  one  of  the  story  of  Whistler 
and  Rossetti.  Rossetti  one  day  showed  Whis- 
tler a  painting  upon  which  he  was  engaged. 
Some  time  later  Whistler,  visiting  the  author 
of  The  House  of  Life,  asked  about  the 
painting.  Rossetti  said  he  had  put  the  paint- 
ing away  uncompleted.  'But,'  said  he,  'I 've 
written  a  sonnet  on  the  subject  of  painting. 
Let  me  read  it  to  you.'  Whistler  submitted. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  93 


When  Rossetti  had  finished,  Jimmie  arose 
and  said,  'Rossetti,  frame  the  sonnet.'  And 
so  there  are  a  great  many  people  who  will 
think,  with  good  cause,  that  the  Kipling  poem 
is  better  than  the  Burne-Jones  picture.  The 
picture  is  somewhat  tawdry.  The  verses  that 
interpret  it  are  finely  bitter  and  iconoclastic 
of  the  gynolatry  just  now  general  in  the 
world.  The  savage 
spirit  of  the  verse  is 
refreshing.  It  illus- 
trates again  that  Mr. 
Kipling  is  the  only 
living  poet,  barring 
Swinburne  &  Hen- 
ley, who  writes  po- 
etry that  has  in  it 
meat  for  men. 
"This  poem  on 'The 
Vampire' goes  to  the 
very  source  of  the 
real  mockery  of  fail- 
ure in  life  and  in 
effort.  Woman  does  not  understand.  She 
never  did  and  never  will.  The  man  loves 
something  in  her  beyond  herself,  and  the 
more  he  gets  of  her  the  surer  he  is  to  fail  of 
the  attainment  of  that  fuller  thing  to  which 
she  invites  and  yet  bars  the  way." 
Mr.  Reedy  is  right,  woman  does  not  under- 
stand— neither  does  Mr.Reedy ;  nobody  does. 
Continually  there  comes  to  every  thinking 
man  a  Voice  which  says,  Arise  and  get  thee 
hence  for  this  is  not  thy  rest.  All  through 
life  are  these  way  stations  where  man  says, 
"There,  now  I 've  found  it,  here  will  I  build 
three  tabernacles."  But  soon  he  hears  the 
Voice  and  it  is  ever  on,  and  on,  and  on.  He 
came  into  life  without  his  choice  and  is  being 
hurried  out  of  it  against  his  will,  and  over 
the  evening  of  his  dreams  steals  the  final 
conclusion  that  he  has  been  used  by  a  Power, 
beyond  himself,  for  unseen  ends. 
But  the  novelists,  and  politicians,  and  econ- 
omists, and  poets  are  continually  telling  us 
that  man's  troubles  comes  from  this  or  that, 
and  then  they  name  their  specialty.  They  are 
like  catarrh  doctors  who  treat  every  patient, 
no  matter  what  the  ailment,  by  nasal  douche. 
C  Marriage  is  only  a  way  station.  Trains 
may  stop  two  minutes,  or  twenty  minutes  for 
lunch;  the  place  may  be  an  ugly  little  cross- 
roads or  it  may  be  a  beautiful  village;  possi- 


bly it's  the  end  of  a  division,  but  egad! 
Dearie,  it 's  not  the  end  of  the  journey.  Very 
young  people  think  it  is,  but  they  find  their 
mistake.  It 's  a  nice  place,  very  often,  but 
not  the  place  they  thought  it  was.  They 
bought  one  thing  and  when  they  got  home 
found  something  else  in  the  package,  and 
nature  won't  change  it.  But  woman  should 
not  be  blamed  for 
that — that 's  God's 
fault,  not  her's. 
PhilipBurne-Jones, 
Kipling  and  Reedy 
say  man  is  unhap- 
py because  woman 
doesn'tunderstand, 
but  I 'm  quite  sure 
that  one  of  the  trio 
knows  that  the  un- 
rest and  weariness 
of  life  lies  deeper. 
CI  Woman  under- 
stands man  quite  as 
well  as  man  understands  woman,  and  I 
believe  a  bit  better.  I  have  spoken. 
Thomas  De  Quincey  was  saved  from  despair 
and  death  by  Ann  of  Venusburg.  De  Quincey 
lived  for  full  fifty  years  after  that — always 
looking  for  Ann.  Some  folks  say  that  he  was 
looking  for  his  ideal,  and  that  he  simply 
called  it  "Ann";  but  this  is  a  mere  quibble. 
DeMusset  translated  the  Essays  of  an  Opium 
Eater  and  transformed  Ann  into  a  conven- 
tional society  belle,  lest  the  Faubourg  D'Up- 
per  be  shocked.  But  as  the  Gentle  Reader  is 
neither  a  child  nor  a  fool,  let  the  facts  suffice 
as  De  Quincey  recorded  them:  Ann  was  of 
Venusburg.  tl  Every  man  whose  life  and 
aspirations  are  touched  with  the  Spirit, 
spends  his  life,  perhaps  unconsciously,  look- 
ing for  the  Ideal  Woman:  the  woman  whose 
soul  will  make  good  the  deficiencies  in  his 
own.  He  feels  his  weakness,  his  incomplete- 
ness; he  is  conscious  that  alone  he  is  but 
half  a  man,  but  if  he  could  only  find  Her — 
his  other  half — all  would  be  as  God  designed 
it.  Thus  sought  Dante,  thus  sought  De  Quin- 
cey, thus  sought  Le  Gallienne  in  his  Quest. 
And  Le  Gallienne  found  Her — the  Golden 
Girl  —  found  her  just  where  De  Quincey 
found  his  Ann.  C  Ann  of  Venusburg  was 
not  a  vampire;  the  Golden  Girl  was  not  a 
vampire.  Each  was  the  woman  who  Under- 


LL  success  consists  in 
this:  you  are  doing  some- 
thing for  somebody — ben- 
efiting humanity;  and  the 
feeling  of  success  comes 
from  the  consciousness  of  this. 
C  The  Brotherhood  of  Consecrated 
Lives  admit  all  who  are  worthy,  &  all 
who  areexcluded  excludethemselves. 


C  ()  XTEMPLATIONS 


Page  94 


stands.  And  having  an  understanding  mind 
and  a  willing  heart  each  gave  life  and  heal- 
ing and  complemented  the  soul  of  a  strong 
man,  instead  of  sucking  his  heart's  blood. 
il  The  man  of  Spiritual  Impulse  is  to  a 
degree  an  ascetic;  perforce,  he  must  be,  for 
Spirituality  is  sex  manifesting  itself  in  reli- 
gious or  artistic  fervor.  I  will  grant  if  you 
insist  on  it,  that  as- 
ceticism is  a  form  of 
sensuality  that  finds 
its  gratification  in 
denial.  I  will  also 
grant  that  your  Art- 
ist is  not  a  celibate, 
and  all  I  claim  isthat 
his  highest  pleas- 
ures are  to  him  sym- 
bol. He  knows  that 
the  things  which  en- 
dure are  spiritual. 
C  Andsothewoman 
who  is  to  comple- 
ment this  man  of  intellect  and  soul  must  be 
the  Woman  who  Understands.  He  cannot 
teach  her,  life  is  too  short.  She  should  com- 
prehend without  explanation  that  sex  must 
not  run  rampant ;  neither  need  it  be  subdued, 
but  it  must  be  spiritualized.  If  she  allows 
mere  intuition  to  lead  she  is  a  vampire,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  will  hold  her  mate  only 
by  a  statutory  bond,  and  here  is  a  case  where 
woman's  boasted  intuition  leads  straight  to 
ashes  and  desolation.  And  even  though  a 
bishop  in  full  canonicals  has  solemnized  a 
riot  of  the  passions,  and  little  girls  in  white 
have  gone  before  strewing  flowers,  love's 
death  surely  follows  license.  Can  law  sanc- 
tify sensuality,  and  do  all  the  "bad  women" 
live  in  this  "quarter"  or  that?  The  police  do 
not  know,  for  they  are  but  the  tools  of  that 
ignorant,  blundering,  blind  thing,  the  law; 
and  the  preachers  who  conventionally  bless 
certain  things  and  curse  others,  lift  an  eye- 
brow and  ask  in  affected  surprise,  "What 
does  the  gentleman  mean?" 
But  the  law  of  antithesis  exists,  the  paradox 
lives,  life  is  a  spiral;  and  possibly  when  all 
Things  are  Made  Plain,  we  who  have  glorified 
in  women  but  a  single  virtue,  will  find  that 
De  Quincey  and  Le  Gallienne  were  right, 
and  that  the  woman  who  Understands  is  the 
Magdalene,  who  from  out  the  purging  fires 


of  purgatory  completes  the  circle  and  arises 
pure  and  spotless,  recognizing  Deity  incar- 
nate when  all  others  blindly  fail. 
Walking  through  the  gallery  of  statuary  of 
the  Luxembourg  I  saw  the  white  carved  nude 
figure  of  a  man  — a  man  in  all  the  splendid 
strength  of  youth.  Standing  behind  him  on  a 
higher  part  of  the  pedestal  was  the  form  of 
a  woman;  and  this 
woman  was  leaning 
over,  her  face  turn- 
ed towards  him,  and 
her  lips  about  to  be 
pressed  upon  his.  I 
moved  closer  and  to 
one  side,  and  saw 
that  on  the  face  of 
the  youth  was  an  ex- 
pression of  deathly 
agony;  and  then  I 
noted  that  the  mus- 
cles of  that  splendid 
body  were  tense  in 
awful  pain.  And  in  that  one  glance  I  saw  that 
the  woman's  body  was  the  body  of  a  tigress 
—  that  only  her  face  was  beautiful  — and  that 
the  arms  ended  in  claws  that  were  digging 
deep  into  the  vitals  of  the  man  as  she  drew 
his  face  to  hers.  Suddenly  feeling  the  need 
of  fresh  air  I  turned  and  went  out  on  the 
street.  That  piece  of  statuary  gave  Philip 
Burne-Jones  the  suggestion  for  his  painting, 
"The  Vampire."  Now  one  might  suppose 
from  that  awful  sermon  in  stone  that  woman 
was  the  cause  of  man's  undoing.  But  for  the 
benefit  of  henpecked  and  misunderstood  hus- 
bands I  '11  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  men 
who  have  achieved  most  in  literature,  music, 
painting  and  philosophy,  are  men  who  knew 
from  sad  experience  the  sharpness  of  wom- 
an's claws:  Socrates,  Dante,  Shakespeare, 
Rousseau,  Milton,  Wagner,  Paganini  and  so 
many  more  that  were  I  to  name  them  all  the 
world  would  not  be  large  enough  to  contain 
the  books  in  which  they  are  printed.  Of 
course  I  '11  admit  that  the  men  who  have 
been  flayed  by  women  have  usually  been 
greatly  helped  by  women,  and  this  some- 
times accounts  for  the  flaying.  But  the  point 
that  I  make  is  that  all  experience  is  good  — 
the  Law  of  Compensation  never  rests  and 
the  stagnation  of  a  dead  level  "happy  mar- 
ried life"  may  not  be  any  more  to  a  strong 


HAT  think  you  the  earth 
will  be  like  when  the  ma- 
jority of  men  and  women 
in  it  learn  that  to  be  sim- 
ple and  honest  and  true, 
is  the  part  of  wisdom,  and  that  to 
work  for  Love  and  Beauty  is  the 
highest  good? 

C  If  you  would  have  friends,  be  one. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  95 


man's  advantage  than  a  long  course  of  stupid 
misunderstanding.  Milton  bewailed  the  fact 
that  he  could  get  freedom  from  marital  woes 
on  no  less  ignoble  grounds  than  violating  his 
marriage  vows.  Milton  did  not  get  his  free- 
dom. His  wife  sat  on  him,  silent  and  insen- 
sate, and  so  did  her  whole  family  of  seven 
persons.  And  his  sharp  cry  made  him  the 
butt  of  jibes  &  jeers 


innumerable.  Mil- 
ton was  an  obscure 
school-teacher  and 
clerk;  but  if  any  of 
those  great  men  who 
sought  to  humiliate 
and  defeat  him  are 
nowadays  mention- 
ed in  history  it  is 
only  to  say  "they 
lived  in  The  Age  of 
Milton."  "His  life 
ruined  by  a  wom- 
an"—Pish!  you  flat- 
ter her;  she  has  n't 
the  power.  And  the 
end  of  the  whole 
thing,  Brother,  is, 
it  doesn'tmuch  mat- 
ter what  your  con- 
dition in  life  is:  all 
things  are  equaliz- 
ed. When  the  Pro- 
phet said,  "God  is 
good  and  his  mercy 
edureth  from  ever- 
lasting to  everlast- 
ing," he  certainly 
understood  himself. 

EATH  AND  FRIENDSHIP.  The 
desire  for  friendship  is  strong  in  every 
human  heart.  We  crave  the  compan- 
ionship of  those  who  can  understand.  The 
nostalgia  of  life  presses,  we  sigh  for  "  home," 
and  long  for  the  presence  of  one  who  sym- 
pathizes with  our  aspirations,  comprehends 
our  hopes  and  is  able  to  partake  of  our  joys. 
A  thought  is  not  our  own  until  we  impart  it 
to  another,  and  the  confessional  seems  a 
crying  need  of  every  human  soul. 
One  can  bear  grief  but  it  takes  two  to  be  glad, 
ii  We  reach  the  Divine  through  some  one, 
and  by  dividing  our  joy  with  this  one  we 
double  it,  and  come  in  touch  with  the  Uni- 


versal. The  sky  is  never  so  blue,  the  birds 
never  sing  so  blithely,  our  acquaintances 
are  never  so  gracious  as  when  we  are  filled 
with  love  for  some  one. 
Being  in  harmony  with  one  we  are  in  har- 
mony with  all.  The  lover  idealizes  and  clothes 
the  beloved  with  virtues  that  only  exist  in 
his  imagination.  The  beloved  is  consciously 
or  unconsciously 


EAUTIFUL  are  the  sea- 
sons; and  glad  I  am  that 
I  have  not  yet  quite  lost 
my  love  for  each.  But  now 
they  parade  past  with  a 
curious  swiftness!  They  look  at  me 
out  of  wistful  eyes,  and  sometimes 
one  calls  to  me  as  she  goes  by  and 
asks,  "Why  have  you  done  so  little 
since  I  saw  you  last?"  And  I  can 
only  answer,  "I  was  thinking  of  you." 
C I  'd  rather  be  the  stupidest  clod  in 
nature  than  to  possess  all  knowledge 
with  no  one  to  whom  I  could  com- 
municate it. 

CThe  beauty  with  which  love  adorns 
its  object  becomes  at  last  the  pos- 
session of  the  one  who  loves. 
C  Beauty  is  an  Unseen  Reality — an 
attempt  to  reveal  a  spiritual  condition. 


aware  of  this,  and 
endeavors  to  fulfill 
the  high  ideal;  and 
inthecontemplation 
of  the  transcendent 
qualities  that  his 
mind  has  created, 
the  lover  is  raised 
to  heights  otherwise 
impossible. 
Should  the  beloved 
pass  from  this  earth 
while  such  a  con- 
dition of  exaltation 
exists,  the  concep- 
tion is  indelibly  im- 
pressed upon  the 
soul,  just  as  the  last 
earthly  view  is  said 
to  be  photographed 
upon  the  retina  of 
the  dead.  The  high- 
est earthly  relation- 
ship is  in  its  very 
essence  fleeting,  for 
men  are  fallible,  and 
living  in  a  world 
where  the  material 
wants  jostle,  &  time 
and  change  play  their  ceaseless  parts,  grad- 
ual obliteration  comes  and  disillusion  enters. 
But  the  memory  of  a  sweet  affinity  once  fully 
possessed,  and  snapped  by  fate  at  its  suprem- 
est  moment,  can  never  die  from  out  the  heart. 
All  other  troubles  are  swallowed  up  in  this, 
and  if  the  individual  is  of  too  stern  a  fiber  to 
be  completely  crushed  into  the  dust,  time 
will  come  bearing  healing,  and  the  memory 
of  that  once  ideal  condition  will  chant  in  his 
heart  a  perpetual  eucharist. 
And  I  hope  the  world  has  passed  forever 
from  the  nightmare  of  pity  for  the  dead; 
they  have  ceased  from  their  labors  and  are 
at  rest.  C,  But  for  the  living,  when  death  has 


(OA  I  EM  PL  ATIONS 


Page  96 


entered  and  removed  the  best  friend,  fate 
has  done  her  worst;  the  plummet  has  sound- 
ed the  depths  of  grief,  and  thereafter  nothing 
can  inspire  terror.  At  one  fell  stroke  all 
petty  annoyances  and  corroding  cares  are 
sunk  into  nothingness.  The  memory  of  a 
great  love  lives  enshrined  in  undying  amber. 
It  affords  a  ballast  'gainst  all  the  storms  that 
blow,  and  although 


it  lends  an  unutter- 
able sadness,  it  im- 
parts an  unspeak- 
able peace.  Where 
there  is  this  haunt- 
ing memory  of  a 
great  love  lost,  there 
is  also  forgiveness, 
charity  &  a  sympa- 
thy that  makes  the 
man  brother  to  all 
who  suffer  and  en- 
dure. The  individ- 
ual himself  is  noth- 
ing: he  has  nothing 
to  hope  for,  nothing 
to  lose,  nothing  to 
win,  &  this  constant 
memory  of  the  high 
and  exalted  friend- 
ship that  was  once 
his  is  a  nourishing 
source  of  strength; 
it  constantly  puri- 
fies the  mind  and 
inspires  the  heart  to 
noblerliving  and  di- 
viner thinking.  The 
man  is  in  communi- 
cation with  Elemental  Conditions.  Ci  To  have 
known  an  ideal  friendship,  and  had  it  fade 
from  your  grasp  and  flee  as  a  shadow  before 
it  is  touched  with  the  sordid  breath  of  self- 
ishness, or  sullied  by  misunderstanding,  is 
the  highest  good.  And  the  constant  dwell- 
ing in  sweet,  sad  recollection  on  the  exalted 
virtues  of  the  one  that  has  gone  tends  to 
crystallize  these  very  virtues  in  the  heart  of 
him  who  meditates  them. 

OHE  PASSING  OF  BRANN.  It's  a 
II  grave  subject:  Brann  is  dead.  Brann 
9hJh!  was  a  Fool.  The  Fools  were  the  wisest 
men  at  Court;  and  Shakespeare,  who  dearly 


loved  a  Fool,  placed  his  wise  sayings  in  the 
mouths  of  men  who  wore  the  motley.  When 
he  adorned  a  man  with  cap  and  bells  it  was 
as  though  he  had  given  bonds  for  both  that 
man's  humanity  and  intelligence.  Neither 
Shakespeare  nor  any  other  writer  of  books 
ever  dared  to  depart  so  violently  from  truth 
as  to  picture  a  Fool  whose  heart  was  filled 
with  perfidy.  C  The 

MERSON  loved  the  good 


more  than  he  abhorred 
evil.  Carlyle  abhorred 
evil  more  than  he  loved 
the  good.  If  you  should 
by  chance  find  anything  in  this  book 
you  do  not  especially  like,  it  is  not 
at  all  wise  to  focus  your  memory  on 
that,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else  — 
bless  my  soul! 

C  The  life  of  every  man  is  a  seam- 
less garment — its  woof  his  thoughts, 
its  warp  his  deeds.  When  for  him 
the  roaring  loom  of  time  stops  and 
the  thread  is  broken,  foolish  people 
sometimes  point  to  certain  spots  in 
the  robe  and  say:  "O  why  did  he 
not  leave  that  out!"  not  knowing 
that  every  action  of  man  is  a  sequence 
from  off  fate's  spindle  >4g& 


Fool  is  not  malici- 
ous. Stupid  people 
may  think  he  is,  be- 
cause his  language 
is  charged  with  the 
lightning's  flash;but 
they  are  the  people 
who  do  not  know 
the  difference  be- 
tween an  incubator 
and  an  egg  plant. 
C  Touchstone,  with 
unfailing  loyalty, 
follows  his  master 
with  quip  &  quirk, 
into  exile.  When  all, 
even  his  daughters, 
had  forsaken  King 
Lear,  the  Fool  bares 
himself  to  the  storm 
&  covers  the  shak- 
ing old  man  with  his 
own  cloak.  And  so 
when  in  our  day  we 
meet  the  avatars  of 
Trinculo,  Costard, 
Jacques  and  Mer- 
cutio,  we  find  they 
are  men  of  tender 
susceptibilities,  generous  hearts  and  intel- 
lects keen  as  a  rapier's  point.  CI  Brann  was 
a  Fool.  <L  Brann  shook  his  cap,  flourished 
his  bauble,  gave  a  toss  to  that  fine  head,  and 
with  tongue  in  cheek,  asked  questions  and 
propounded  conundrums  that  stupid  Hypo- 
crisy could  not  answer.  So  they  killed  Brann. 
11  Brann  was  born  in  obscurity.  Very  early 
he  was  cast  upon  the  rocks  and  nourished 
at  the  she-wolf's  teat. 

He  graduated  at  the  University  of  Hard 
Knocks  and  during  his  short  life  took  several 
post  graduate  courses.  He  had  been  wage- 
earner,  printer's  devil,  printer,  pressman, 
editor.  CI  He  knew  the  world  of  men:  the 


Elbert  Hubbard 

From  a  photograoh  of  the  bust  by 
Saint  Gerome-Roycroft 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  97 


struggling,  sorrowing,  hoping,  laughing,  fal- 
lible world  of  men.  And  to  those  whom  God 
had  tempted  beyond  what  they  could  bear, 
his  heart  went  out.  He  read  books  with 
profit,  and  got  great  panoramic  views  out 
into  the  world  of  art  and  poetry;  dreaming 
dreams  and  sending  his  swaying  filament  of 
thought  out  and  out,  hoping  it  would  some- 
where catch  and  he 
would  be  in  com- 
munication with  An- 
other World. 
Discreet  &  cautious 
little  men  are  gener- 
ally known  by  the 
company  they  keep. 
The  Fool  was  not 
particular  about  his 
associates:  child- 
ren, sick  people,  in- 
sane folks,  rich  or 
poor— it  made  no 
difference  to  him. 
He  sometimes  even 
sat  at  meat  with  pub- 
licans and  sinners. 
C  He  was  a  Mystic 
&  lived  in  the  ideal. 
This  deeply  relig- 
ious quality  in  his 
nature  led  him  into 
theology,  and  he  be- 
came a  clergyman 
—  a  Baptist  clergy- 
man. C  No  church 
is  large  enough  to 
hold  such  a  man  as 
this:  the  fool  quality 
in  his  nature  outcrops,  and  the  jingle  of  bells 
makes  sleep  to  the  Chief  Pewholder  impos- 
sible, tl  So  the  Fool  had  to  go. 
Then  he  founded  that  unique  periodical, 
which  in  three  years  attained  a  circulation 
of  sixty  thousand  copies.  This  paper  was 
not  used  for  pantry  shelves,  lamp  lighters, 
or  other  base  utilitarian  purposes.  It  cost  ten 
times  as  much  as  a  common  newspaper,  and 
the  people  who  bought  it  read  it  until  it  was 
worn  out.  All  the  things  in  this  paper  were 
not  truth :  mixed  up  amid  a  world  of  wit  were 
often  extravagance  and  much  bad  taste.  It 
was  only  a  Fool's  newspaper!  In  this  period- 
ical the  Fool  railed  and  jeered  and  stated 


facts  about  smirking  Complacency,  facts  so 
terrible  that  folks  said  they  were  indecent. 
He  flung  his  jibes  at  Stupidity  and  Stupidity 
sought  to  answer  by  assassination. 
Texas  has  a  libel  law  patterned  after  the 
libel  law  of  the  State  of  New  York.  If  a  man 
takes  from  you  your  good  name  you  can  put 
him  behind  prison  bars  and  place  shutters 
over  the  windows  of 


ITERATURE  should  be 
the  product  of  the  ripened 
mind  —  the  mind  that 
knows  the  world  of  men 
and  which  has  grappled 
with  earth's  problems.  Letters  should 
not  be  a  profession  in  itself — to  make 
a  business  of  an  art  is  to  degrade  it. 
Literature  should  be  the  spontane- 
ous output  of  the  mind  that  has 
known  and  felt.  To  work  the  mine  of 
spirit  as  a  business  and  sift  its  pro- 
duct for  hire,  is  to  overwork  the  vein 
and  palm  off  slag  for  useful  metal. 
C I  expect  to  see  the  day  when  the 
conversational  method  will  be  su- 
preme, and  teaching  will  be  done 
practically  without  books — by  object 
lessons,  thinking  things  out,  talking 
about  them  and  doing  things 


his  place  of  busi- 
ness. CThe  people 
who  thought  Brann 
had  injured  them 
did  not  invoke  the 
law.  They  invoked 
Judge  Lynch. 
A  mob  seized  the 
Fool,  and  placing  a 
rope  about  his  neck 
led  him  naked  thro' 
the  October  night, 
out  to  the  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  ,which 
they  averred  he  had 
traduced.  C  There 
they  smote  him  with 
their  hands  and  spat 
upon  him.  Their  in- 
tention was  to  hang 
the  Fool,  but  better 
counsel  prevailed,& 
on  signing,  in  ter- 
rorem,  a  document 
they  placed  before 
him,  they  gave  him 
warning  to  depart  to 
another  state.  And 
on  his  promising  to 
do  so  they  let  him  go.  CLBut  the  next  day  he 
refused  to  leave;  and  his  flashing  wit  still 
filled  the  air,  now  embittered,  through  the 
outrages  visited  upon  him. 
His  enemies  held  prayer  meetings,  invoking 
Divine  aid  for  the  Fool's  conversion — or 
extinction.  One  man  quoted  David's  prayer 
concerning  Shimei:  "Bring  Thou  down  his 
hoar  head  to  the  grave  in  blood ! "  And  others 
still,  prayed,  "Let  his  children  be  fatherless 
and  his  wife  a  widow."  CL  But  still  the  Fool 
flourished  his  bauble.CThen  they  shot  him. 
CThat  hand  which  wrote  the  most  Carlylean 
phrase  of  any  in  America  is  cold  and  stiff. 
That  teeming  brain  which  held  a  larger 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  98 


vocabulary  than  that  of  any  living  man  in 
America  is  only  clay  that  might  stop  a  hole 
to  keep  the  wind  away.  That  soul  through 
which  surged  thoughts  too  great  for  speech 
has  gone  a-journeying. 
Brann  is  dead.  C,  No  more  shall  we  see  that 
lean,  clean,  homely  face  with  its  melancholy 
smile.  No  more  shall  we  hear  the  Fool  elo- 
quently, and  oh!  so 


foolishly,  plead  the 
cause  of  the  weak, 
the  unfortunate,  the 
vicious.  CNo  more 
shall  we  behold  the 
tears  of  pity  glisten 
in  those  sad  eyes  as 
his  heart  was  wrung 
by  the  tale  of  suf- 
fering and  woe. 
His  children  are  fa- 
therless, his  wife  a 
widow.C.  Brann  the 
Fool  is  dead. 

p^COMPARI- 
§|lSON.  When 
LgaLj  Emerson  bor- 
rowed of  Words- 
worth that  fine  ex- 
pression aboutplain 
living  &  high  think- 
ing no  one  was  more 
astonished  than  he 
that  Whitman  and 
Thoreau  should  ac- 
cept him  at  his  word. 
He  was  decidedly 
curious  about  their 


And  when  he  threw  a  bit  of  a  bomb  into 
Harvard  Divinity  School  it  was  the  shrewd- 
est bid  for  fame  that  ever  preacher  made, 
tl  I  said  "  shrewd  " —  that 's  the  word.  Emer- 
son had  the  instincts  of  Connecticut;  that 
peculiar  development  of  men  who  have  eked 
out  existence  on  a  rocky  soil,  banking  their 
houses  against  grim  winter  or  grimmer  sav- 
age foes.  With  this 

REAT  men 


are  not  so 
great  as  we  think  them, 
and  dull  people  are  not 
quite  so  dense  as  they 
seem.  It  is  really  a  ques- 
tion in  my  mind  whether  the  Great 
Man  ever  existed.  Seen  at  an  angle 
across  the  distance,  so  the  light 
strikes  on  a  certain  facet  of  his  be- 
ing, we  say  the  man  is  brilliant.  In 
his  own  household  he  is  probably 
considered  something  else.  He  is 
great  to  us  only  because  we  do  not 
know  him.  He  does  a  few  things 
well,  but  special  talent  in  any  direc- 
tion is  purchased  with  a  price.  If  you 
have  much  skill  in  certain  lines,  you 
are  lacking  in  other  directions.  Like 
a  chain,  a  man's  real  strength  is  in 
his  weakest  part  ,&&&^,&&&3?>&& 


Yankee  shrewdness 
went  a  subtle  and 
sweeping  imagina- 
tion, and  a  fine  ap- 
preciation of  the  ex- 
cellent things  that 
men  have  said  and 
done.  But  he  was 
never  so  foolish  as 
to  imitate  the  heroic 
—  he  simply  admir- 
ed it  from  afar.  He 
often  advised  others 
to  work  their  poetry 
up  into  life,  but  he 
did  not  do  it  him- 
self. He  never  cast 
the  bantling  on  the 
rocks,  nor  caused 
him  to  be  suckled 
with  the  she-wolf's 
teat.  CHe  admired 
"abolition"  from  a 
distance.  Whenever 
he  went  away  from 
home  it  was  always 
with  a  return  ticket. 


experiment  but  kept  a  safe  distance  between 
himself  and  the  shirt-sleeved  Walt;  and  as 
for  Henry  Thoreau  —  bless  me!  Emerson 
regarded  him  only  as  a  fine  savage,  and  told 
him  so.  Of  course  Emerson  loved  solitude, 
but  it  was  the  solitude  of  a  library  or  an 
orchard,  &  not  the  solitude  of  plain  or  wilder- 
ness. Emerson  looked  upon  Beautiful  Truth 
as  an  honored  guest.  He  adored  her,  but  it 
was  with  the  adoration  of  the  intellect.  He 
never  got  her  tag  in  jolly  chase  of  comradery ; 
nor  did  he  converse  with  her,  soft  and  low, 
when  only  the  moon  peeped  out  from  behind 
the  silvered  clouds,  and  the  nightingale  list- 
ened. He  never  laid  himself  open  to  damages. 


He  has  summed  up 
Friendship  in  an  es- 
say as  no  other  man  ever  has,  and  yet  there 
was  a  self-protective  aloofness  in  his  friend- 
ship that  made  icicles  gather,  as  George 
William  Curtis  has  explained. 
In  no  relation  of  his  life  was  there  a  complete 
abandon.  His  Essay  on  Self-Reliance  is 
beef,  iron,  and  wine,  and  Works  and  Days 
is  a  tonic  for  tired  men;  and  yet  I  know  that 
in  spite  of  all  his  pretty  talk  about  living  near 
to  Nature's  heart  he  never  ventured  into  the 
woods  outside  of  hallooing  distance  from  the 
house.  He  could  neither  ride  a  horse,  nor 
shoot,  nor  sail  a  boat — and  being  well  aware 
of  it,  never  tried.  All  of  his  farming  was 
done  by  proxy;  and  when  he  writes  to  Car- 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  99 


lyle  late  in  life,  explaining  how  he  is  worth 
forty  thousand  dollars,  well  secured  by  first 
mortgage,  he  makes  clear  one-half  of  his 
ambition.  And  yet,  I  call  him  master,  and 
will  match  my  admiration  for  him  'gainst 
that  of  any  other,  six  nights  and  days  to- 
gether. But  I  summon  him  here  to  contrast 
his  character  with  that  of  another — another, 
who,  like  himself, 


was  twice  married. 
C,  In  his  Essay  on 
Love  Emerson  re- 
veals just  an  average 
sophomore  insight; 
and  in  his  work  I  do 
not  find  a  mention 
or  a  trace  of  influ- 
ence exercised  by 
either  of  the  women 
whom  he  wedded, 
nor  by  any  other 
woman. Shelleywas 
whathewas  through 

the  influence  of  the  two  women  he  married. 
Ci  Shelley  wrecked  the  life  of  one  of  these 
women.  She  found  surcease  of  sorrow  in 
death;  and  when  her  body  was  found  in  the 
Serpentine  he  had  a  premonition  that  the 
hungry  waves  were  waiting  for  him  too.  But 
before  her  death  and  through  her  death  she 
pressed  home  to  him  the  bitterest  sorrow  that 
man  ever  can  know:  the  combined  knowledge 
that  he  has  mortally  injured  a  human  soul 
and  the  sense  of  helplessness  to  minister  to 
its  needs.  Harriet  Westbrook  said  to  Shelley, 
"Drink  ye  all  of  it."  And  could  he  speak 
now  he  would  say  that  the  bitterness  of  the 
potion  was  a  formative  influence  as  potent 
as  that  of  the  gentle  ministrations  of  Mary 
Wollstonecraft  who  broke  over  his  head  the 
precious  vase  of  her  heart's  love  and  wiped 
his  feet  with  the  hairs  of  her  head. 
In  the  poetic  sweetness,  gentleness,  lovable- 
ness,  and  beauty  of  their  natures  Emerson 
and  Shelley  were  very  similar.  In  a  like  en- 
vironment they  would  have  done  the  same 
things.  A  pioneer  ancestry  with  its  struggle 
for  material  existence  would  have  taught 
Shelley  caution;  and  a  noble  patronymic 
fostered  by  the  state,  lax  in  its  discipline, 
would  have  made  Emerson  toss  discretion 
to  the  winds.  C  Emerson  and  Shelley  were 
both  apostles  of  the  good,  the  true  and  the 


reached  immortali- 
ty,for  their  thoughts 
live  in  the  thoughts 
of  the  race  again,  & 
their  hopes  and  as- 
pirationsmingleand 
are  one  with  the  men 
and  women  of  earth 
who  think  and  feel 
and  dream. 

raiOY IN  THE 
||||CONFLICT. 
llfclEJJ  To  rise  in  the 


beautiful.  One  rests  at  Sleepy  Hollow,  his 
grave  marked  by  a  great  rough-hewn  bowl- 
der, while  overhead  the  winds  sigh  a  requiem 
through  the  pines.  The  ashes  of  the  other  lie 
beneath  the  moss-grown  wall  of  the  Eternal 
City,  and  the  creeping  vines  and  flowers,  as 
if  jealous  of  the  white,  carven  marble,  snug- 
gle close  over  the  spot  with  their  leaves  and 
y  .  i  petals.C  Both  have 

OU  better  learn  to  accept 
all  the  small  misfits  and 
trivial  annoyances  of  life 
as  a  matter  of  course.  To 
allow  them  to  receive  at- 
tention beyond  their  deserts  is  to 
wear  the  web  of  your  life  to  the  warp. 
Be  on  the  lookout  for  the  great  joys 
and  never  let  mosquitoes  worry  you 
into  a  passion 

world,  in  spite  of  popular  illusions,  is  by 
no  means  an  unmixed  blessing.  The  young 
proletarian,  playing  happily  in  his  native 
gutter,  scarcely  realizes  this.  So  soon  as 
he  begins  to  think  at  all  about  himself,  his 
teachers  begin  the  evil  lesson  of  ambition; 
he  lifts  his  eyes  to  the  distant  peaks,  and 'the 
sun  is  bright  upon  them  and  they  seem  very 
fair.  The  garrulous  Smiles  comes  his  way 
with  stories  of  men  who  have  "got  on" — 
without  a  word  of  warning  against  the  sor- 
rows of  success.  No  one  warns  him  of  the 
penalties.  Every  one  speaks  of  climbing  as 
though  it  were  bliss  unspeakable.  And  so  the 
youngster,  finding  his  limbs  are  stout  and  the 
strength  is  in  him,  starts  confidently  enough, 
by  the  way  of  book  or  barter,  as  his  tastes 
incline.  Let  the  epic  Smiles  tell  of  the  career 
of  those  who  win.  Let  no  one  tell  of  those 
who  fall,  who  drop  by  the  way  with  bodies 
enfeebled  by  overstudy,  underfed;  or  who 
are  lost  amidst  the  fogs  of  commercial  im- 
morality. Our  concern  is  with  those  who 
win,  to  whom  a  day  comes  when  they  can 
see  their  schoolmates  far  below  them,  still 
paddling  happily  in  the  gutter;  can  look 
down  on  venerable  heads  to  which  they 
once  looked  up,  and  turning  the  other  way, 
behold  the  Promised  Land.  One  might  think 
it  would  be  all  exultation,  this  Nebo  incident, 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  100 


the  happiest  of  all  possible  positions  in  the 
sad  life  of  man.  It  may  be,  even,  that  the  man 
from  below  tells  himself  as  much.  His  means 
for  horse  exercise  came  when  his  nerve  for 
it  had  gone.  The  wine  of  life  does  not  wait. 
After  all,  the  man  he  has  ousted  had  drunk 
the  best  of  the  cup;  for  the  conqueror  the 
dregs.  That  is  the  disillusionment  of  the  suc- 
cessful proletarian. 


Better  a  little  farm, 
a  life  of  old  fashion- 
ed work,  love,  and  a 
tumult  of  children, 
than  this  Dead  Sea 
fruit  of  success.  It  is 
fun  to  struggle,  but 
tragedy  to  win. 
"Success  is  hide- 
ous," says  Victor 
Hugo.  C.  Happy  is 
the  poor  man  who 
clutches  that  prize 
in  the  grip  of  death 


Leave  things  to  other  folks  a  little  if  you  can ; 
the  world  will  have  to  git  along  without  you 
some  day,  and  it  might  as  well  git  used  to  it 
now  as  any  time.  Git  out  o'  this  barn  now — 
I  want  to  sweep  up!" 

He  grumbles,  and  still  he  does  the  thing  and 
does  it  thoroughly.  I  never  lie  awake  nights 
wondering  whether  the  cows  have  been 
¥^ttat-t    a  xt^hi  ^  watered,  or  the  hor- 

ICHAEL  ANGELO  was 
homely  in  feature,  and  the 
aspect  of  his  countenance 
was  mutilated  by  a  crash- 
ing blow  from  a  rival  stu- 
dent's mallet  that  flattened  his  nose 
to  his  face.  Torregiano  lives  in  his- 
tory for  this  act  alone;  thus  proving 
that  there  are  more  ways  than  one 


to  gain  immortality 

and  never  has  to  see  it  crumble  in  his  hand,    the  helm. 


ffr|LI  BABA  THE  SAGE.  Hasty  people, 
WigM  with  slight  hold  on  Fundamental  Ver- 
'WM.  ities,  may  assume  that  because  AH 
Baba  refuses  to  act  without  due  knowledge, 
make  a  leap  in  the  dark,  and  do  things  with- 
out knowing  why,  he  is  not  a  valuable  helper. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  is  especially  valuable 
on  that  very  account.  CAs  a  matter  of  con- 
science, when  an  order  is  given  to  Baba,  he 
gently  pooh-poohs  it,  patronizingly  indulges 
it,  or  boldly  shows  you  where  your  proposi- 
tions are  puerile  and  preposterous.  All  ac- 
cording to  whether  the  time  is  before  or  after 
dinner.  After  the  order  is  given  he  goes  and 
does  just  what  he  pleases.  And  be  it  said  to 
his  credit  that  what  he  does,  usually,  is  the 
right  thing.  C  Baba  grumbles  in  order  to 
convince  himself  and  others  that  he  is  not 
under  the  heel  of  the  tyrant.  Once  I  made 
him  the  flat  proposition,  thus:  "Here  you, 
Baba,  when  I  tell  you  to  do  things  you  always 
kick.  Now,  if  you  will  cease  grumbling  when 
I  order  things  done,  I  '11  give  you  five  dollars 
extra  each  month.  Is  it  a  bargain?" 
The  old  man  picked  up  a  straw,  chewed  on 
it  meditatively,  smiled  and  replied,  "No,  I'm 
gittin'  'nough  wages,  I  guess.  You  mean  all 
right,  but  you  give  too  dam  many  orders. 


ses  bedded,  or  in 
winter  whether  the 
barn  door  is  prop- 
erly fastened  so  the 
drifting  snow  will 
not  make  a  bank  un- 
der my  best  colt.  I 
know  positively  that 
all  is  snug  and  se- 
cure, and  covering 
myself  in  the  warm 
blankets  I  fall  asleep 
content  &  at  peace, 
saying,  "Baba 's  at 
CAnd  so  I  wonder  after  all  if  we 
who  are  clothed  in  a  little  brief  authority  do 
not  give  too  many  orders,  and  busy  ourselves 
with  a  pismire  activity  in  watching  and  peek- 
ing and  lying  in  wait  to  see  that  some  one 
does  not  shirk  his  duty? 
Is  it  not  better  to  pick  your  man  and  then 
rely  on  him  —  put  faith  in  him,  and  show  by 
your  manner  that  you  know  the  thing  will  be 
done?  I  rather  think  so,  for  in  some  way  our 
mental  attitude  under  right  conditions  infuses 
a  heroic  quality  into  others. 
There  are  a  great  many  men  who  are  emi- 
nently capable  of  doing  good  work,  who 
never  get  the  opportunity,  simply  because 
their  employers  will  not  trust  them.  Suspi- 
cion, surveillance  and  doubt  are  thrust  upon 
them ;  when  faith,  good-cheer  and  confidence 
should  be  given  instead.  <Ut  was  some  years 
ago  that  Ali  Baba  gave  me  the  advice  about 
not  giving  too  many  orders.  I  did  not  exactly 
relish  it  at  the  time,  but  I  am  now  fully  con- 
vinced that  in  that  particular  utterance  my 
colleague  struck  twelve.  CJn  the  first  place 
Ali  Baba  attempts  no  task  nor  line  of  work  of 
which  he  is  not  absolutely  master.  In  conver- 
sation he  may  roam  the  Universe  and  flood 
the  world  with  theories,  but  in  actual  life  he 
knows  what  he  is  going  to  do,  and  he  does  it. 
C.And  so  I  have  found  that  Ali  renders  the 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  101 


best  service  to  humanity  when  he  is  not 
handicapped  with  orders  and  instructions. 
In  a  frantic  effort  trying  to  remember  the  in- 
structions, he  would  in  all  probability  let  slip 
the  main  issue  into  the  yeasty  deep. 

|f||HE  MAN  WITH  THE  HOE.  Proba- 
vmm  *  know  more  clearly  than  Mr. 
pUl  Markham  did, 
himself,  just  what 
he  had  in  view  when 
he  wrote  The  Man 
with  the Hoe.lLThQ 
trouble  with  the  hoe 
man  is  too  much  hoe 
— it  is  hoe-conges- 
tion. C  The  hoe  is 
all  right  and  all  men 
should  hoe.  If  all 
men  hoed  a  little, 
no  man  would  have 
to  hoe  all  the  time. 
C  To  hoe  all  of  the 
timeslantsthebrow. 
C  And  to  never  hoe 
tends  to  hydroceph- 
alus &  nervous  pro- 
stration. Many  men 
never  hoe,  because 
they  say,  "I  don't 
have  to."  It's  a  fool's 
answer. 

Then  many  men  are 
not  allowed  to  hoe 
— the  land  is  needed 
for  game  preserves. 
And  in  a  country 
called  Italy,  where 
the  true  type  of  the 
hoe-man  is  found  in 
abundance,  there  is 
an  army  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thou- 
sand fighting  men 
who  have  to  be  fed  with  the  things  the  hoe- 
man  digs  out  of  the  ground. 
Wherever  there  are  many  soldiers  there  are 
also  many  hoe-men.  C  Some  one  must  hoe. 
C  All  food  and  all  wealth  are  hoed  out  of 
the  ground.  C  If  you  never  hoe  and  yet  eat, 
you  are  slanting  the  forehead  of  the  hoe-man 
and  adding  to  that  stolid  look  of  God-forsaken 
hopelessness.  C  He  does  not  look  as  though 


he  ever  sang  at  his  work.  A  man  who  cannot 
sing  at  his  work  or  has  nothing  cheerful  to 
anticipate,  is  apt  to  have  a  slantindicular 
forehead.  C  If  you  help  the  hoe-man  hoe, 
he  will  then  have  time  to  think,  and  gradu- 
ally the  shape  of  his  head  will  change,  his 
eye  will  brighten,  the  coarse  mouth  will  be- 
come expressive,  and  at  times  he  will  take 
his  dumb  gaze  from 


ANK  accounts,  safety,  and 
satisfaction  are  not  the 
things  that  stir  the  emo- 
tions and  sound  the  soul- 
depths.  Landseer  never 
knew  the  blessing  of  a  noble  discon- 
tent. But  he  contributed  to  the  quiet 
joy  of  a  million  homes;  and  it  is  not 
for  us  to  say,  "It  is  beautiful,  but  is  it 
art?"  Neither  need  we  ask  whether 
the  name  of  Landseer  will  endure 
with  those  of  Raphael  and  Leonardo. 
Landseer  did  a  great  work,  and  the 
world  is  better  for  his  having  lived; 
for  his  message  was  one  of  gentle- 
ness, kindness,  and  beauty. 
C I  expect  to  see  the  day  when  the 
honors  and  compensation  of  school 
teaching  will  command  the  services 
of  the  best  and  strongest  men  and 
women  in  every  community. 
C I  would  hold  my  friend  only  by  the 
virtue  that  is  in  me — by  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  worth  that  is  in  my  soul. 


the  earth  and  look 
up  at  the  stars. 
Let  us  all  hoe— a 
little. 

Y  RULE  OF 
THREE.  The 
masterpieces 
of  Art  are  all  cloud- 
capped.Fewmen  in- 
deed ever  reach  the 
summit:  we  watch 
them  as  they  ascend 
and  we  lose  them 
in  the  mists  as  they 
climb:  &  sometimes 
they  never  come 
back  to  us.  If  they 
do,  having  been  on 
the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration, they  are 
no  longer  ours. 
In  all  great  literature 
there  is  this  large, 
airy,  impersonal  in- 
dependence. C.The 
Mountain  does  not 
go  to  you :  you  may 
famish  out  there  on 
the  arid  plain  and 
your  bones  whiten 
amid  the  alkali  inthe 
glistening  sand,  but 
the  majestic  Moun- 
tain looks  on  imper- 
turbable. The  valleys  are  there,  with  the  rich 
verdure,  where  the  trout  frolic,  and  the  cool 
springs  where  the  wild  game  gathers,  but 
what  cares  the  Mountain  for  you!  Ecclesi- 
astes  offers  no  premiums  to  readers.  Shakes- 
peare makes  no  appeal  to  club  raisers,  Em- 
erson puts  forth  no  hot  endeavor  for  a  million 
subscribers:  all  these  can  do  without  you. 
C  Rich  lodes  run  through  this  Mountain,  and 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  102 


we  continually  delve  and  toil  for  treasures. 
And  in  spite  of  the  pain  and  isolation  and 
the  privation  that  is  incident,  and  the  danger- 
ous crevices  that  lie  in  wait,  we  secure  a 
reward  for  our  labor.  Still  we  do  not  find 
the  fabled  "pockets"  that  we  seek  — it  is  al- 
ways something  else.  From  Columbus  search- 
ing for  a  Northwest  Passage  to  the  rustic 
swain  who  follows 


with  such  fidelity 
the  wake  of  a  petti- 
coat, all  are  the  sport 
of  Fate.  We  achieve, 
but  die  in  ignorance 
of  the  extent  to 
which  we  have  ben- 
efited the  Race.  And 
like  the  man  who 
rode  the  hobby  all 
his  life,  and  whose 
friends  discovered 
after  he  was  dead 
that  it  was  a  real 
horse  and  had  car- 
ried the  man  many 
long  miles,  so  are 
we  carried  on  steeds 
that  are  guided  by 
an  Unseen  Hand. 
4^  All  sublime  Art 
is  symbolistic.  What 
is  the  message  the 
greatviolinistbrings 
you?  Ah,  you  can- 
not impart  it!  Each 
must  hear  it  for  him- 
self. The  note  that 
is  "clear"  to  all  is 
not  great  Art.  When 
CharlesLamb  poin- 
ted to  the  row  of 
ledgers  in  the  office 
of  the  East  India 
Company  and  said, 
"These  are  my  works,"  he  was  only  joking; 
for  he  afterward  explained  that  ledgers,  in- 
dices, catalogs,  directories,  almanacs,  reports 
and  briefs  are  not  literature  at  all.  These 
things  inspire  no  poems;  they  give  no  glow. 
CLThe  province  of  Art  is  not  to  present  a 
specific  message,  but  to  impart  a  feeling.  If 
we  go  home  from  the  Lyceum  hushed,  tread- 
ing on  air,  we  have  heard  Oratory,  even 


HE  Church  must  have  the 
credit  for  being  the  moth- 
er of  modern  art.  Not  only 
did  she  furnish  the  incen- 
tive, but  she  supplied  the 
means.  She  gave  security  from  the 
eternal  grind  of  material  wants  and 
offered  men  undying  fame  as  the 
reward  for  noble  effort. 
C  I  expect  to  see  the  day  when  over- 
wrought nerves  in  teacher  or  pupil 
will  be  unknown,  for  joy  will  take 
the  place  of  anxiety,  and  all  the  bug- 
aboo of  "exams"  will  be  consigned 
to  limbo.  Examination  is  just  what 
the  word  signifies — pulling  up  the 
plant  to  get  a  look  at  the  roots. 
C  As  to  happiness — is  it  possible  to 
be  wretched  at  twenty,  when  one  has 
health,  a  passion  for  art,  free  passes 
for  the  Louvre,  an  eye  to  see,  a  heart 
to  feel,  and  sunshine  gratis? 
il  Get  a  man  interested  in  poetry,  art, 
sociology,  and  he  will  talk  of  these. 


though  we  cannot  recall  a  single  sentence; 
and  if  we  read  a  poem  that  brings  the  un- 
bidden tears  and  makes  the  room  seem  a 
sacred  chancel,  we  have  read  Literature. 
The  Master  has  imparted  to  our  spirits  a 
tithe  of  his  own  sublimity  of  soul. 
For  the  good  old  ladies  who  prick  the  Bible 
for  a  message,  I  have  a  profound  sympathy; 

the  Sacred  Page  fits 
man's  every  mood, 
and  this  is  why  it  is 
immortal.  For  that 
which  is  clear  is 
ephemeral.  C  Sym- 
bolism requires  in- 
terpreters, and  lo! 
colleges  spring  up 
with  no  other  intent 
than  to  train  men  to 
explain  a  Book:  for 
the  Saviours  of  the 
world  all  speak  in 
parables.  They  see 
the  significance  of 
Things  and  voice  a 
various  language. 
Interpreters  make 
the  symbolist  im- 
mortal, &  the  sym- 
bolist makes  the 
fame  of  the  inter- 
preters. If  Turner 
had  been  "clear," 
Ruskin  might  still  be 
AssistantProfessor. 
All  Holy  Writ  from 
Moses  to  Whitman 
is  mystical. The  wri- 
ter has  breathed  in- 
to its  nostrils  the 
breath  of  life,  that 
impalpable,  elusive 
Something  we  for- 
ever seek  &  which 
forever  escapes  us.  COf  course  I  would  not 
have  a  writer  endeavor  to  be  mystical  —  this 
would  be  positively  base;  but  I  would  have 
each  man  who  feels  that  he  has  something  to 
say  express  himself  in  his  own  way,  without 
let,  hindrance,  or  injunction  from  writers  on 
rhetoric,  who  having  never  produced  any- 
thing to  speak  of  themselves,  yet  are  willing 
for  jingling  coin  to  show  others  how. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  103 


Let  the  writer  have  a  clear  conception  and 
then  express  it  so  it  is  at  the  moment  clear 
to  his  Other  Self— that  Self  that  looks  on 
over  the  shoulder  of  every  man,  endorsing 
or  censuring  his  every  act  and  thought  and 
deed.  The  highest  reward  of  good  work  con- 
sists in  the  approbation  of  this  Other  Self, 
and  in  that  alone;  even  though  the  world  flouts 
it  all,  you  have  not 


express  in  any.  And  as  for  memory  it  is  be- 
coming an  extinct  faculty,  so  prone  are  we 
to  fill  our  pockets  with  note  books  (that  we 
are  constantly  losing).  Whenever  a  fellow 
who  is  clever  with  the  pen  fails  to  pay  his 
debts,  or  does  this,  that  or  the  other  that  a 
man  should  not  do,  there  goes  up  a  pretty 
cry,  "Oh,  he 's  a  genius— he 's  exempt!" 


HASTITY  and  temper- 
ance are  negative  virtues 
and  therefore  not  neces- 
sarily virtues  at  all.  Do 
something — do  something 
worth  while;  be  somebody;  and  do 
not  imagine  that  Heaven's  Gate  will 
ever  open  at  your  approach  if  you 
are  merely  an  "abstainer."  Do  not 
consume  your  energies  resisting 
temptation — you  will  go  to  hell  sure. 
Life,  and  life  abundantly,  comes 
through  expression;  repression  is 
stagnation — death. 
C  Beware  of  the  Bishop's  Voice — 
your  own  is  better 


failed.  C"I  know 
what  pleasure  is," 
said  Stevenson,"for 
I  have  done  good 
work." 

1ENEFIT  OF 
CLERGY.  In 
'England  and 
France  during  the 
Twelfth  Century  it 
was  the  custom  to 
remit  the  death  pun- 
ishment upon  every 
criminal  who  could 
read.  They  called  it 
"benefit  of  the  cler- 
gy"— beneficium 
clericorum  autcler- 
gicorum.  CWhen  a 
prisoner  demanded 
this  benefit  of  the 
clergy  the  Chaplain 
would  hand  the  prisoner  a  book.  "Does  he 
read?"  demanded  the  Judge  of  the  Chap- 
lain. "  He  reads  like  a  clergyman,"  was  the 
answer.  This  to  us  seems  a  good  reason  why 
the  sentence  should  have  been  carried  out, 
as  clergymen  are  usually  atrocious  readers. 
But  the  law  said  differently  and  the  fellow's 
neck  was  saved.  Just  why  favor  was  thus 
shown  I  do  not  know,  but  the  inference 
seemed  to  be  that  a  man  who  could  read  was 
a  pretty  good  fellow  and  could  ill  be  spared. 
We,  too,  place  honors  at  the  feet  of  accom- 
plished people.  Men  who  can  write  books 
are  great  fellows,  except  in  their  own  homes. 
And  yet  I 'm  sure  that  the  men  who  write 
fluently,  are  often  cheap  wits.  The  men  who 
write  best  do  not  necessarily  think  best.  I 
have  seen  men  who  could  not  read,  yet  who 
had  a  good  mental  grip  on  many  a  sublime 
thought.  I 've  known  men  who  could  jabber 
in  four  languages  and  yet  had  no  thought  to 


Bless  my  soul!  let 
us  do  away  with 
"benefitsofthecler- 
gy"  and  mete  out 
the  same  rules  of 
justice  to  all — men 
and  women  alike. 

§|||IENIUS.Gen- 
ius  is  unique. 
isiJ  No  satisfac- 
tory analysis  of  it 
has  yet  been  given. 
We  know  a  few  of 
its  indications — that 
is  all.  First  among 
these  is  ability  to 
concentrate. 
No  seed  can  sow 
genius;  no  soil  can 
grow  it;  its  quality 
is  inborn  and  defies 
both  cultivation  and 
extermination.  CTo 
be  surpassed  is  never  pleasant;  to  feel  your 
inferiority  is  to  feel  a  pang.  Seldom  is  there 
a  person  great  enough  to  find  satisfaction  in 
the  success  of  a  friend.  The  pleasure  that 
excellence  gives  is  not  tainted  by  resentment; 
and  so  the  woman  who  marries  a  genius  is 
usually  unhappy.  C Genius  is  excess;  it  is 
obstructive  to  little  plans;  it  is  difficult  to 
warm  yourself  at  a  conflagration ;  the  tempest 
may  blow  you  away;  the  sun  dazzles;  light- 
ning strikes  fiercely;  the  Nile  overflows.Gen- 
ius  has  its  time  of  straying  off  into  the  infinite 
and  then  what  is  the  good  wife  to  do  for 
companionship?  Does  she  protest  and  find 
fault?  It  could  not  be  otherwise,  for  genius 
is  dictatorial  without  knowing  it,  obstructive 
without  wishing  to  be,  intolerant  unawares 
and  unsocial  because  it  cannot  help  it.  C.  The 
wife  of  a  genius  sometimes  takes  his  fits  of 
abstraction  for  stupidity,  and  having  the 
man's  interests  at  heart,  she  endeavors  to 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


arouse  him  out  of  his  lethargy  by  chiding 
him.  Occasionally  he  rouses  enough  to  chide 
back;  and  so  it  has  become  an  axiom  that 
genius  is  not  domestic. 
Some  one  has  said  that  no  man  can  appreci- 
ate the  beautiful  who  has  not  a  keen  sense 
of  humor.  For  the  beautiful  is  the  harmo- 
nious, and  the  laughable  is  the  absence 
of  fit  adjustment. 

WWt  n  tne  Preface 

II II  to  the  Marble 
Jiljyi  Faun,  Haw- 
thorne admits  that 
his  best  work  was 
done  for  one  single, 
particular  person. 
This  person  was  so 
very  indulgent  that 
he  could  overlook 
all  small  faults  and 
foibles,  &  so  strong 
that  he  could  go  with 
Hawthorne  on  his 
highest  Empyrean 
flights.  He  compre- 
hended all  that  was 
between  the  lines  & 
sympathized  with 
the  author's  every 
aspiration.  And  yet 
he  was  a  critic  of  so 
high  and  noble  a  mind  that  he  demanded  the 
best,  and  instantly  knew  when  the  author 
groped  for  his  reasons  and  fumbled  for  his 
facts.  C.  Hawthorne  avers  that  every  author 
who  writes  well  writes  for  some  One.  The 
One  he  idealizes.  In  the  olden  time  it  was 
the  "  Gentle  Reader"  or  the  "  Beloved  Read- 
er" or  the  "Indulgent  Reader";  and  to  this 
ideal  Person  Hawthorne  always  addressed 
himself,  confident  of  a  patient  hearing.  He 
says  that  never  in  all  his  life  did  he  meet  this 
Person  face  to  face;  he  never  had  a  letter 
from  him,  nor  a  visible  sign,  but  still  the 
author  winged  his  scrolls  out  into  the  void 
with  full  faith  that  they  would  reach  their 
rightful  destination.  C.  Browning  expressed 
the  same  idea,  only  in  another  way,  when 
he  replied  to  a  carping  critic,  "It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  you  do  not  understand  my  lines 
for  I  do  not  write  for  you." 
Hawthorne,  I  am  sure,  here  voiced  a  truth 


Page  104 

that  is  universal  to  every  man  who  toils  and 
delves  in  the  realm  of  art.  For  the  simple 
intent  of  all  art  is  to  communicate  your  feel- 
ings and  emotions  to  another.  Art  has  its  rise 
in  the  need  of  human  companionship.  You 
feel  certain  thoughts  and  strive  to  express 
them.  You  may  express  by  music,  by  chis- 
eled shapes,  by  painted  canvas  or  through 
written  words.  But 
at  the  last  all  art  is 
one.  As  you  work, 
over  against  you  sits 
another,  who  says, 
"Yes,  yes,  I  under- 
stand !"C.  The  per- 
son I  write  for  is  a 
Woman. 

At  times  she  sits  and 
looks  at  me,  leaning 
forward,  resting  her 
chin  on  her  hand. 
She  smiles  indulg- 
ently, &  sometimes 
a  little  sadly,  as  my 
pen  runs  on.  She 
knows  me  so  per- 
fectly that  she  often 
anticipates  what  I 
would  say  and  thus 
saves  me  the  trouble 
of  writing  it.  She 
guesses  my  every 
mood.  Certainly  she  is  no  silly,  young  thing 
with  bangs  and  frizzes,  ready  to  giggle  at 
slight  excuse,  and  filled  with  virginal  pruri- 
ency. This  woman  has  suffered  and  known 
and  felt  and  that  is  why  she  understands. 
Her  heart  has  been  purified  in  the  white 
fires  of  experience.  She  knows  more  than  I, 
for  she  sees  all  around  me,  and  my  little 
effort  to  palm  off  a  white  lie,  or  the  smallest 
attempt  at  insincerity  or  affectation  only 
brings  a  wondering  look,  that  stings  me  for 
a  week  and  a  day.  She  is  no  prude,  is  this 
woman  who  watches  me  with  wistful  eyes:  I 
can  say  anything  to  her  I  choose,  no  topic  is 
forbidden  — she  only  asks  that  I  be  honest 
and  frank.  I  always  know  when  I  have 
pleased  her,  for  then  she  holds  out  her  arms 
in  a  slow,  sweeping  gesture,  but  when  I  step 
forward  all  I  clasp  is  empty  air.  So  I  know  I 
have  never  really  seen  her,  nor  have  I  ever 
received  from  her  a  letter.  She  is  the  sister 


O  greater  blessing  than  the 
artistic  conscience  can 
come  to  any  worker  in  art, 
be  he  sculptor,  writer, 
singer,  or  painter.  Hold 
fast  to  it,  and  it  shall  be  your  com- 
pass in  time  when  the  sun  is  dark- 
ened. To  please  the  public  is  little, 
but  to  satisfy  your  Other  Self,  that 
self  that  looks  over  your  shoulder 
and  watches  your  every  thought  and 
deed,  is  much.  No  artistic  success 
worth  having  is  possible  unless  you 
satisfy  that  Other  Self. 
C  Concealment  is  friction.  A  secret 

gnaWS  J^J^&&A£&>&&&&!>&®>&&> 


A  Book-binder 


In  the  Bindery. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  105 


of  my  soul,  and  for  her  I  write  because  she 
understands. 

im  UCCESS  is  in  the  blood.  CThere  are 
men  whom  Fate  can  never  keep  down 
B  — they  march  jauntily  forward,  and 
take  by  divine  right  the  best  of  everything 
that  earth  affords.  But  their  success  is  not 
attained  by  the  Sam- 
uel Smiles-Connec- 
ticut policy.They  do 
not  lie  in  wait,  nor 
scheme,  nor  fawn, 
nor  seek  to  adapt 
their  sails  to  catch 
the  breeze  of  popu- 
lar favor.  Still,  they 
are  ever  alert  and 
alive  to  any  good 
that  may  come  their 
way,  and  when  it 
comes  they  simply 
appropriate  it,  and 
tarrying  not,  move 
steadily  on.  CGood 
health!  When  you  go 
out  of  doors,  draw 
the  chin  in, carry  the 
crown  of  the  head 
high,  &  fill  the  lungs 
to  the  utmost;  greet 
your  friends  with  a 
smile,  and  put  soul 
in  every  hand  clasp. 
Do  not  fear  being 
misunderstood;  and 
never  waste  a  min- 
ute thinking  about 

your  enemies.  Try  to  fix  firmly  in  your  own 
mind  what  you  would  like  to  do,  and  then 
without  violence  of  direction  you  will  move 
straight  to  the  goal.  Fear  is  the  rock  on  which 
we  split,  and  hate  is  the  shoal  on  which  many 
a  barque  is  stranded.  When  we  are  fearful, 
the  judgment  is  as  unreliable  as  the  compass 
of  a  ship  whose  hold  is  full  of  iron  ore ;  when 
we  hate,  we  have  unshipped  the  rudder;  and 
if  we  stop  to  meditate  on  what  the  gossips 
say,  we  have  allowed  a  hawser  to  befoul  the 
screw.  CKeep  your  mind  on  the  great  and 
splendid  thing  you  would  like  to  do;  and 
then,  as  the  days  go  gliding  by,  you  will  find 
yourself  unconsciously  seizing  upon  the 


opportunities  that  are  required  for  the  ful- 
fillment of  your  desire,  just  as  the  coral  insect 
takes  from  the  running  tide  the  elements  that 
it  needs.  Picture  in  your  mind  the  able, 
earnest,  useful  person  you  desire  to  be,  and 
the  thought  you  hold  is  hourly  transforming 
you  into  that  particular  individual.  Thought 
is  supreme,  and  to  think  is  often  better  than 
to  do.  C.  Preserve  a 


AVE  your  beautiful  things, 
of  course — why  not?  En- 
courage the  workers  in 
art,  and  use  your  money 
to  decorate  and  beautify, 
>ut  do  not  think  that  these  things 
will  benefit  you  if  you  join  the  So- 
cial Exodus  and  make  hot  haste  to 
put  distance  between  you  and  those 
who  are  less  fortunate.  Owners  of 
art  must  build  no  spite  fence! 
CIn  Egypt  I  saw  men  unearthing 
stone  temples,  and  no  one  really 
knows  what  god  these  temples  were 
dedicated  to,  much  less  why.  The 
god  they  sought  to  serve  is  as  dead 
as  the  folks  who  invented  him. 
CA11  there  is  of  life  is  to  do  our 
work  (which  is  only  play)  as  well  as 
we  can  and  be  kind  4&&>&®> 


right  mental  attitude 
— that  of  courage, 
frankness  and  good 
cheer.  C,The  only 
way  to  get  friends 
is  to  be  one. 

OODLUM- 
ISM  springs 
naturallyinto 


being,  like  every- 
thing else,  when  the 
conditions  are  ripe. 
The  right  conditions 
are  idleness  and  a 
lack  of  incentive  to- 
ward the  higher  life. 
It  is  said  the  people 
talk  gossip  in  the 
country,  but  gossip 
is  only  the  lack  of  a 
worthy  theme.  Hav- 
ing nothing  else  to 
talk  about,  the  folks 
turn  &  talk  of  each 
other;  and  if  they 
rend  characters  and 
rip  reputations  up 
the  back,  it  is  only 
a  sign  of  mental  poverty.  Get  a  man  inter- 
ested in  poetry,  art,  sociology,  and  he  talks  of 
these.  Set  him  to  work  at  some  useful  em- 
ployment that  calls  into  being  his  higher 
faculties — the  love  of  harmony,  proportion, 
color — and  his  mind  will  revolve  around 
these  things,  and  of  these  will  he  converse. 
CThe  cure  for  hoodlumism  is  manual  train- 
ing, and  an  industrial  condition  that  will  give 
the  boy  or  girl  work — congenial  work — a 
fair  wage,  and  a  share  in  the  honors  of  mak- 
ing things.  Salvation  lies  in  the  Froebel  meth- 
ods carried  into  manhood.  You  encourage 
the  man  in  well  doing  by  taking  the  things 
he  makes,  the  product  of  hand  and  brain, 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  106 


and  pay  him  for  them,  supply  a  practical, 
worthy  ideal  and  your  hoodlum  spirit  is  gone 
and  gone  forever.  You  have  awakened  the 
man  to  a  Higher  Life  —  the  life  of  art  and 
usefulness— you  have  bound  him  to  his  race 
and  made  him  brother  to  his  kind.  The  world 
is  larger  for  him  —  he  is  doing  something- 
doing  something  useful:  making  things  that 
people  want.  Q,  All 
success  consists  in 
this:  You  are  doing 
something  for  some- 
body — benefiting 
humanity;  and  the 
feeling  of  success 
comes  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  this. 
il  Interest  a  person 
in  useful  work  and 
you  are  transform- 
ing Chaos  into  Cos- 
mos. C.  Blessed  is 
that  man  who  has 
found  his  work. 

|T  is  a  humili- 
ating fact  that 
great  men  are 
not  capable  of  trans- 
mitting their  genius 
to  their  sons.  C,  In 
fact,  genius  never 
comes  from  the  fa- 
ther. On  the  contra- 
ry, all  the  meaner 
traits  of  character 
seem  to  be  supplied 
to  the  sons  by  great 

men,  while  the  characteristics  that  have  made 
the  father  famous  are  entirely  wanting. 
Truth,  honor,  courage,  are  less  frequently 
transmitted  from  father  to  son  than  the  baser 
passions.  Physically  the  same  thing  is  seen. 
Men  of  splendid  physique,  form  or  stature 
rarely  beget  sons  of  equal  perfection.  A  man 
will  often  transmit  a  disease  or  a  tendency 
to  it,  but  not  a  well  developed  muscular  sys- 
tem. Man  is  a  lonely  creature.  He  stands  by 
himself,  independent  even  of  the  parents  who 
begot  him.  Even  they  do  not  know  him. 
There  are  recesses  in  the  nature  of  every 
person  into  which  no  eye  ever  penetrates. 
There  are  traits  in  his  character  no  glimpse 


of  which  is  ever  obtained.  C  Paternity  is  an 
insignificant  office,  after  all— really  not  worth 
boasting  of.  C  It  was  a  bad  blunder  of  the 
Ancients  to  account  for  genius  by  saying  the 
man's  father  was  a  god,  when  the  real  facts 
are  that  the  great  man  is  under  obligations 
to  his  mother  for  his  mental  and  spiritual 
heritage.  The  Roman  Catholic  has  a  scientific 
basis  for  what  you 

LL  lovers  of  books  have 
chums,  and  the  pleasure 
of  reading  is  to  pass  this 
joy  along  to  another.  Lov- 
ers always  read  together, 


and  the  chief  joy  of  loving  a  woman 
is  to  read  to  her,  or  have  her  read 
to  you.  To  mix  it  mentally  with  a 
good  woman  who  has  phosphorous 
is  paradise  enow. 

CWhy  should  anyone  who  is  free 
belong?  To  belong  implies  that  some 
one  has  a  rope  fastened  to  your  foot. 
And  furthermore,  I  do  not  want 
anyone  to  "belong"  to  me. 
CThe  right  conditions  for  Hood- 
lumism  are  idleness  and  a  lack  of 
incentive  toward  useful  effort. 
C.  Gossip  is  only  lack  of  a  worthy 
theme  A^&&^^&®*e!®>&&&®>&& 


call  "Mariolatry." 
Assuming  the  divin- 
ity of  the  son,  it  will 
never  do  to  dispute 
the  divinity  of  the 
one  who  bore  him. 

pjlWIMMING 
|mf  uneasily  in 
B^wfl  my  Ink  Bot- 
tle is  an  Essay  on 
the  Benefits  &  Ad- 
vantages of  Sin.  As 
yet  I  do  not  feel  com- 
petent to  fish  it  out: 
I  am  waiting,  hoping 
that  some  one  else 
will  do  the  task  for 
me.  It  is  a  delicate 
and  elusive  bit  of 
work,  and  no  mat- 
ter how  well  done 
I  know  that  the  man 
who  does  it  will  lay 
himself  open  to  the 
frequent  charge  of 
being  an  Advocate 
of  the  Devil. 
Yet  the  grim  fact  re- 
mains that  sin  in  very  many  instances  has 
led  the  way  to  Saintship.  No  woman  happily 
married  to  the  man  she  loves,  ever  recog- 
nized Divinity  Incarnate,  breaking  over  his 
head  the  precious  ointment  of  her  loyalty 
and  wiping  his  feet  with  the  hairs  of  her  head. 
C  There  is  something  startling  in  the  truth 
that  the  woman  who  preserves  her  "virtue" 
pays  a  price  for  the  privilege. 
And  where  is  the  preacher  who  dare  face 
the  fact  that  the  "honest"  man  or  woman 
with  fixed  income,  happily  situated,  is  to  a 
degree  insulated  from  all  sympathy  and  fel- 
lowship with  the  great  mass  of  beings  who 
suffer  and  endure  the  slings  and  arrows  of 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  107 


outrageous  fortune.  Prosperity  is  not  all 
prosperity — there  is  even  a  penalty  in  trav- 
eling successward,  although  Samuel  Smiles 
knew  it  not.  Men  are  only  great  as  they  pos- 
sess sympathy,  and  that  which  causes  a 
man  to  center  in  himself,  taking  a  satisfac- 
tion in  the  security  he  has  attained  for  the 
good  things  of  this  world,  or  another  world, 
is  not  wholly  good. 


1 

i 

■ HEY  say  that 
love  is  blind: 
love  perhaps 
is  short  sighted,  or 
inclined  to  strabis- 
mus, or  sees  things 
all  out  of  their  true 
proportion,  magni- 
fying pleasant  little 
ways  into  seraphic 
virtues,  but  love  is 
not  really  blind — 
the  bandage  is  never 

so  tight  but  that  it  can  peep.  The  only  kind 
of  love  that  is  really  blind  and  deaf  is  Pla- 
tonic love.  Platonic  love  has  n't  the  slightest 
idea  where  it  is  going,  and  so  there  are  sur- 
prises and  shocks  in  store  for  it.  The  other 
kind,  with  eyes  wide  open,  is  better.  I  know 
a  man  who  has  tried  both.  Love  is  progres- 
sive. All  things  that  live  should  progress.  To 
stand  still  is  to  retreat,  and  to  retreat  is  death. 
Love  dies,  of  course.  All  things  die,  or  be- 
come something  else.  And  often  they  become 
something  else  by  dying.  Behold  the  eternal 
Paradox!  The  love  that  evolves  into  a  higher 
form  is  the  better  kind.  Nature  is  intent  on 
evolution,  yet  of  the  myriad  of  spores  that 
cover  earth,  most  of  them  are  doomed  to 
death;  and  of  the  countless  rays  sent  out  by 
the  sun,  the  number  that  fall  athwart  this 
planet  are  infinitesimal.  Edward  Carpenter 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  disappointed 
love,  love  that  is  "lost,"  often  affects  the  indi- 
vidual for  the  highest  good.  If  it  had  been  at- 
tained, imperfections  would  have  been  found 
in  it.  But  now  it  is  in  the  realm  of  dreams, 
forever  beyond  disappointing.  Only  dreams 
are  unchanging.  CLLove  in  its  essence  is  a 
spiritual  emotion,  and  its  office  seems  to  be 
an  interchange  of  thought  and  feeling;  but 
often  thwarted  in  its  object  it  becomes  gen- 
eral, transforms  itself  into  sympathy,  and 


or  plebeian,  homely 
or  handsome,  saved 
or  damned.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  classes 
we  have  the  masses. 
The  masses  are  the 
great  undissolved 


embracing  a  world,  goes  out  to  and  blesses 
all  mankind. 

||gl|JHERE  seems  ever  to  have  been  a  ten- 
Mm  dency  on  the  part  of  small  philoso- 
MHim  phers  to  divide  humanity  up  into 
classes.  We  are  set  down  as  good  or  bad, 
great  or  ordinary,  bond  or  free,  learned  or 
TTl-  .  illiterate,  aristocrat 

Hb  average  man  is  a  vic- 
tim of  Arrested  Develop- 
ment— the  passing  years 
bring  an  increase  of  know- 
ledge only  in  very  excep- 
tional  cases.  Health  and  prosperity  residuum— the  peo 
are  not  pure  blessings — a  certain  pie  who  go  about 
element  of  discontent  usually  seems  ^praTonlhe 

necessary   tO    Spur    men   On   tO   a    street  corners  nor 

higher  life  «w «» «* «*.  f0ps. To&te 

are  born  and  the  wires  flash  no  news;  they 
visit,  but  the  society  columns  are  not  bur- 
dened with  names  of  their  friends;  they  die 
and  bulletins  give  no  sign.  Yet  it  might  be 
difficult  to  find  a  man  who  at  the  tribunal  of 
his  own  heart  would  confess  that  he  belonged 
to  the  masses.  We  talk  glibly  about  giving  a 
helping  hand  to  the  masses,  elevating  the 
masses,  never  once  admitting  that  we,  like 
all  others,  are  but  a  molecule  in  God's 
masses.  And  a  peculiar  thing  about  this  is 
that  the  men  who  talk  most  about  "elevating 
the  masses"  are  often  puny  little  fellows  who 
themselves  are  merely  pensioners  on  a  pa- 
tient world.  If  there  is  any  better  way  to 
help  the  masses  than  by  going  quietly  about 
your  work  and  setting  us  a  good  example,  I 
have  not  yet  seen  it. 

Each  man  thinks  his  own  experience  unique, 
peculiar,  distinctive:  he  belongs  to  a  class,  of 
course,  but  a  very  small  and  select  class; 
just  as  all  lovers  are  sure  that  such  love  as 
theirs  never  before  existed,  except  mayhap 
on  the  stage  or  in  a  book.  And  thus  adown 
the  centuries  from  the  days  of  Solomon 
and  his  Shulamite  shepherdess,  lovers  have 
strolled  hand  in  hand,  chanting  the  lovers' 
litany,  "love  like  ours  can  never  die." 
And  so  we  are  all  labeled  and  pigeonholed, 
done  up  into  bundles,  and  those  that  cannot 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  108 


be  disposed  of  handily  are  dumped  into  the 
masses.  But  if  we  snatch  from  Kronos  a  little 
leisure  and  think  it  over,  we  will  find  that  all 
things  are  comparative:  there  is  no  standard 
of  goodness,  nor  of  greatness,  nor  of  freedom, 
nor  of  beauty,  nor  of  aristocracy,  and  the 
man  we  think  is  saved  is  only  partially  saved, 
and  the  person  whom  we  chalk-mark  "damn- 
ed," may  welcome 


P8™ 


of  doing  both.  CJn  Art  we  ask  for  the  widest, 
freest  and  fullest  liberty  for  Individuality  — 
that 's  all! 

jE^|HE  spirit  grows  through  exercise  of 
liiii'ts  faculties*  )ust  as  a  muscle  grows 
ImSm  strong  through  use.  Expression  is  nec- 
essary to  life.  Life  is  expression,  and  repres- 
t,.^  .     .  sion  is  stagnation 

HAT  man  only  is  great 
who  utilizes  the  blessings 
that  God  provides;  and  of 
these  blessings  no  gift 
equals  the  gentle,  trust- 
ing companionship  of  a  good  woman. 
CI  expect  to  see  the  day  when 
school-teachers  will  not  be  supplied 
with  a  beautiful  scarcity  of  every 


1 


thing  but  hard  work  &&±>&®>&i&>f&&!> 


us  in  Heaven,  if  by 
chance  we  should 
ever  get  there. 
All  conditions  are 
transient;  life  is  in 
a  state  of  flux;  clas- 
ses are  to  a  large 
extent  a  matter  of 
clothes;  and  caste 
is  an  idea  founded 
on  a  false  hypothe- 
sis &  in  the  world's 
march  is  often  top- 
pled by  a  mob  be- 
tween cockcrow  and  sun-up.  The  gradations 
we  seem  to  see  are  more  apparent  than  real. 
On  close  inspection  we  find  the  great  man  is 
not  so  great  as  we  thought,  and  the  stupid 
man  not  quite  so  dull  as  he  appeared. 

the  Cross  for  eighteen  hundred  years 
has  been  a  sacred  emblem,  and  the 
Trm%  gallows  since  John  Brown,  glorious; 
and  as  the  word  Quaker,  flung  in  impotent 
and  impudent  wrath,  now  stands  for  gentle- 
ness, peace  and  truth,  so  has  the  word  Phi- 
listine become  a  synonym  for  manly  intelli- 
gence. CI  In  Literature,  he  is  a  Philistine 
who  seeks  to  express  his  personality  in  his 
own  way.  A  true  Philistine  is  one  who 
brooks  no  let  nor  hindrance  from  the  tip- 
staffs of  letters,  who  creating  nothing  them- 
selves, yet  are  willing  for  a  consideration  to 
show  others  how.  These  men  strive  hard  to 
reduce  all  life  to  a  geometrical  theorem  and 
its  manifestations  to  an  algebraic  formula. 
But  life  is  greater  than  a  college  professor, 
and  so  far  its  mysteries,  having  given  the  slip 
to  all  the  creeds,  are  still  at  large.  My  indi- 
vidual hazard  at  truth  is  as  legitimate  as 
yours.  The  self-appointed  beadles  of  letters 
demand  that  we  shall  neither  smile  nor  sleep 
while  their  Presiding  Elders  drone,  but  we 
plead  in  the  World's  Assize  for  the  privilege 


death.  CYet  there 
is  right  expression 
and  wrong  expres- 
sion. If  a  man  per- 
mits his  life  to  run 
riot,  and  only  the 
animal  side  of  his 
nature  is  allowed  to 
express  itself,  he  is 
repressing  his  high- 
est and  best,  and 
therefore  the  quali- 
ties not  used  atro- 
phy and  die.  CMen 
are  punished  by  their  sins,  not  for  them. 
Sensuality,  gluttony  and  the  life  of  license 
repress  the  life  of  the  spirit,  and  the  soul 
never  blossoms;  and  this  is  what  it  is  to  lose 
one's  soul.  Ci  Every  religion  is  made  up  of 
two  elements  that  never  mix  any  more  than 
oil  and  water  mix.  A  religion  is  a  mechan- 
ical mixture,  not  a  chemical  combination,  of 
morality  and  dogma.  Dogma  is  the  science 
of  the  unseen:  the  doctrine  of  the  unknown 
and  the  unknowable. 

The  question  is  as  live  to-day  as  it  was  two 
thousand  years  ago — what  expression  is 
best?  This  is,  what  shall  we  do  to  be  saved? 
and  concrete  absurdity  consists  in  saying  we 
must  all  do  the  same  thing.  Whether  the  race 
will  ever  grow  to  a  point  where  men  will  be 
willing  to  leave  the  matter  of  Life-Expression 
to  the  individual,  is  a  question;  but  the  Mil- 
lennium will  never  arrive  until  men  cease 
trying  to  compel  all  other  men  to  think  and 
live  after  one  pattern.  41  Most  people  are 
anxious  to  do  what  is  best  for  themselves 
and  least  harmful  for  others.  The  average 
man  now  has  intelligence  enough:  Utopia  is 
not  far  off,  if  the  self-appointed  folk  who 
govern  us,  and  teach  us  for  a  consideration, 
would  only  be  willing  to  do  unto  others  as 
they  would  be  done  by,  that  is  to  say,  mind 
their  own  business,  and  cease  coveting  things 


* 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  109 


that  belong  to  other  people.  War  among  the 
nations  and  strife  among  individuals  is  a 
result  of  the  covetous  spirit  to  possess  either 
power  or  things,  or  both.  A  little  more  pa- 
tience, and  little  more  charity  for  all,  a  little 
more  devotion,  a  little  more  love;  with  less 
bowing  down  to  the  past,  and  a  silent  ignor- 
ing of  pretended  authority;  a  brave  looking 
forward  to  the  fu- 
ture, with  more  con- 
fidence in  ourselves 
and  more  faith  in 
our  fellows,  and  the 
race  will  be  ripe  for 
a  great  burst  of  light 
and  life. 

In  philosophy  there 
is  an  apostolic  suc- 
cession. We  build 
on  the  past,  and  all 
the  centuries  of  tur- 
moil &travail  which 
have  gone  on  before 
have  made  this  mo- 
ment possible.  Nev- 
er has  there  been 
any  such  thing  as 
"the  fall  of  man"; 
for  the  march  of  the 
race  has  been  one 
continual  climb  —  a 
movement  onward 
and  upward.  CThe  man  who  has  dared  to 
think  for  himself  and  voiced  his  thought— 
the  emancipated  man — has  been  as  one  in  a 
million.  But  now  he  is  everywhere.  Liberty 
is  contagious,  and  so  is  good  health.  CLWe 
live  in  wondrous  times — evolution  is  every- 
where at  work,  and  at  work  for  better  things. 

longer  need  it  be  concealed  that  in 
Switzerland  you  can  purchase  copies 
and  models  of  Thorwaldsen's  "Lion 
of  Lucerne."  Some  are  in  marble,  some  in 
granite,  some  in  bronze,  and  at  my  hotel  in 
Lucerne  we  used  to  have  the  noble  beast  on 
the  table  every  day  at  breakfast  done  in  but- 
ter. But  most  of  the  reproductions  are  in 
wood — all  sizes,  from  heroic  mold  to  watch 
charms  and  bangles.  Sculptors  have  carved 
this  lion,  painters  have  painted  it,  artists 
have  sketched  it,  but  did  you  ever  see  a 
reproduction  of    The  Lion  of  Lucerne?" 


No,  Dearie,  you  never  did.  No  model  has  a 
trace  of  that  indefinable  look  of  pain,  that 
soulful,  human  quality  which  the  original 
has.  No,  not  one — all  are  caricatures. 
An  intelligent  young  woman  called  my  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  psychological  condi- 
tions under  which  we  view  "The  Lion"  are 
the  most  subtle  and  complete  that  man  can 
devise;  &  these  are 


HAT  the  men  and  women 
of  wealth  and  culture  who 
are  deliberately  making 
their  homes  among  the 
poor  are  as  one  to  ten 
thousand,  compared  with  the  "sud- 
den 0011"  who  are  making  frantic 
efforts  to  get  away  from  all  smirch- 
ing contact  with  plain  people,  there 
is  no  doubt:  but  the  claim  that  money 
gives  us  the  right  to  monopolize  the 
beautiful  things  of  earth,  and  the 
gentle  qualities  of  heart,  no  longer 
goes  unchallenged.  The  culture  that 
is  kept  close  smells  to  high  heaven: 
only  running  water  is  pure 


the  things  that  add 
the  last  touch  to  art 
&  cause  us  to  stand 
speechless,&which 
make  the  unbidden 
tears  start.  The  lit- 
tle lake  at  the  foot 
of  the  cliff  prevents 
atoonearapproach; 
the  overhanging 
vines  and  "melan- 
choly boughs"  form 
a  dim  shade;  the 
falling  water  seems 
like  the  playing  of 
an  organ  in  a  vast 
cathedral,  and  last, 
the  position  of  the 
lion  itself,  against 
the  solid  cliff,  par- 
takes of  the  mirac- 
ulous. It  is  not  set 
up  there  for  people 
to  look  at;  it  is  a  part  of  the  mountain  and 
the  great  seams  of  the  strata  running  through 
the  figure  lend  the  spirit  of  miracle  to  it  all. 
It  seems  as  though  God,  Himself,  had  done 
the  work  and  the  surprise  and  joy  of  discov- 
ery are  ours,  as  we  stand  before  it,  uncov- 
ered. COne  must  concede  the  masterly  fram- 
ing and  hanging  of  the  picture,  but  beyond 
this  is  the  technical  skill  giving  the  look  of 
woe  that  does  not  tell  of  weakness,  as  woe 
usually  does,  but  strength  and  loyalty  and 
death  without  flinching  in  a  righteous  cause 
— symbolic  of  the  Swiss  Guard  that  died  at 
their  posts,  not  one  of  the  three  hundred 
wavering,  there  at  the  King's  Palace  at  Ver- 
sailles— all  dead  and  turned  to  dust  a  century 
past,  and  this  dead  lion  mutely  pleading  for 
our  tears!  CLWe  pay  the  tribute. 
And  the  reason  we  are  moved  is  because  we 
partake  of  the  emotions  of  the  artist  when  he 
did  the  work;  and  the  reason  we  are  not 


(CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  110 


moved  by  any  model  or  imitation  is  because 
there  is  no  feeling  in  the  heart  of  the  imitator. 
Great  art  is  born  of  feeling — high,  intense 
and  holy  feeling.  In  order  to  do,  you  must  feel. 

WM  KNOW  a  man  who  studies  Matthew 
jgj  gs|  Henry's  Commentary  three  hours  ev- 
mJSm  ery  day  and  can  show  you  the  error 
of  your  way  in  five 
languages.  During 
the  past  year  he  has 
read  one  hundred 
and  sixteen  books. 
In  his  library  there 
are  three  thousand 
volumes&heknows 
them  all.  This  man 
declares  that  Emer- 
son's influence  on 
the  world  has  been 
for  evil;  that  Dar- 
win was  an  infidel, 
&that  Froebel,  who 
taught  of  the  divin- 
ity of  all  children, 
was  a  lunatic.  And 
be  it  known  this  man 
has  read  Emerson, 
Darwin  &  Froebel, 
too,  so  his  opinions 
cannot  be  account- 
ed for  on  the  ground 
of  illiteracy.  This  gentleman  claims  that  a 
person  who  cannot  read  Hebrew  is  in  no 
position  to  judge  whether  the  story  of  Jonah 
and  the  Whale  is  literally  true  or  not.  When 
he  explains  (and  this  gentleman  explains  a 
great  deal)  he  clouds  intelligibility  in  pom- 
pous, portentious,  polysyllabic  garrulity.  He 
receives  a  salary  of  nine  hundred  dollars  per 
year — just  the  amount  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral pays  its  locomotive  firemen — and  will 
never  be  able  to  earn  more;  he  is  cold,  un- 
sympathetic, harsh  and  unfeeling,  and  there- 
fore unprogressive.  His  intellect  is  proof 
against  a  new  idea  and  his  soul  calloused 
'gainst  all  sublime  emotion.  He  calls  hell 
God's  justice  and  peoples  Tophet  with  the 
folks  he  does  n't  like.  As  a  teacher  he  has  no 
magnetism;  he  is  not  an  orator;  and  as  a 
writer  he  possesses  no  style.  His  pen  has 
never  brought  him  a  dollar  and  never  can, 
for  in  literature  there  is  no  market  for  the 


dead  and  rotten.  He  badgers  boys,  quarrels 
with  girls,  quibbles  with  women,  holds  long 
arguments  with  busy  men,  stopping  them  on 
street  corners,  and  offends  innocent  elderly 
persons  by  inquiring  as  to  their  fitness  for 
death.  <!  Now  the  question  is,  what  avails 
our  boasted  educational  system  that  can  turn 
out  such  a  product  as  this? — a  man  who  can 
speak  Greek,  Latin, 
Hebrew,  German  & 
English;  who  holds 
degrees  from  three 
colleges,  and  yet  at 
the  last  is  only  a 
dam  fool! 

yr^UN  literature, 
III  ||  as  in  all  art, 
Wulw  there  are  two 
separate  &  distinct 
schools.  Just  now 
one  school  is  called 
Realism  andtheoth- 
er  Impressionism. 
These  schools  have 
been  known  by  sev- 
eral names,  but  the 
thing  itself  is  ever 
the  same:  and  be- 
tween these  schools 
there  is  an  endless 
war.  The  fight  is  as 
ancient  as  Aristophanes  and  recent  as  Mr. 
Hamlin  Garland.  Armistices  are  sometimes 
agreed  upon,  but  the  battle  again  rages  sooner 
or  later.  CI  The  difference  between  Realism 
and  Impressionism  is  that  one  describes  the 
thing,  while  the  other  only  suggests  it.  Im- 
pressionism makes  you  think;  Realism  does 
the  thinking  for  you. 

Not  long  ago  I  saw  a  picture  which  seemed 
to  me  to  be  Impressionism  of  the  pure  type. 
It  was  a  canvas  thirty-six  by  fifty  inches, 
entitled,  "Waiting."  It  showed  a  woman 
seated  on  the  sands  of  the  sea.  The  woman's 
back  is  towards  us  and  over  her  head  is  held 
tightly  a  tattered  shawl.  A  bulge  to  the  right 
of  the  shawl  tells  that  within  her  arms  the 
woman  holds  a  child.  You  do  not  see  the 
child,  yet  you  know  't  is  there  —  hugged 
closely  to  the  mother's  heart.  You  do  not  see 
the  woman's  face,  but  you  know  that  she  is 
looking  out  upon  the  restless,  tossing  tide; 


T  requires  two  to  make  a 
home.  The  first  home  was 
made  when  a  woman,  cra- 
dling in  her  loving  arms  a 
baby,  crooned  a  lullaby. 
All  the  tender  sentimentality  we 
throw  around  a  place  is  the  result 
of  the  sacred  thought  that  we  live 
there  with  some  one  else.  It  is  our 
home.  The  home  is  a  tryst — the 
place  where  we  retire  and  shut  the 
world  out.  Lovers  make  a  home  just 
as  birds  make  a  nest,  &  unless  a  man 
knows  the  spell  of  the  divine  passion 
I  hardly  see  how  he  can  have  a  home 
at  all.  He  only  rents  a  room^^^^. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  111 


and  you  know  that  she  is  waiting  for  a  ship 
that  will  never  return.  C  However,  if  you 
have  never  waited  for  a  footstep  that  shall 
never  come,  and  listened  long  for  a  voice 
that  shall  never  more  be  heard,  the  picture 
will  mean  little  to  you.  But  if  you  have  lived 
and  suffered  and  known  and  felt,  you  will 
see  despair  written  large  across  the  dull, 
threatening  grey  of 
that  sky;  and  wreck- 
ed hopes  in  every 
curve  and  line  of 
the  angry  waves;  & 
the  long  monoton- 
ous stretch  of  yel- 
low sands  will  speak 
to  you  of  a  hope  that 
never  dies,  and  the 
bulge  in  the  shawl 
will  tell  of  a  love 
that  is  stronger  than 
death. 

1ND  so  Bac- 
'M  chante  has 
Rj  danced  away 
into  history  and  left 
Boston  to  her  beans 
and  books.  Beauti- 
ful bronze  repre- 
senting some  of  the 
most  delicate  lines 
of  harmony &grace- 
ful  motion  caused 
"wicked  thoughts," 
saysMr.Lucy  Stone 
Blackwell  in  the 
Herald.  This  being 
true,  of  course  Bac- 
chante had  to  dance 
onward  or  wear  a 
tea  gown.  Mr.Black- 
well  points  to  the 
Shaw  Memorial  and 
says  there 's  art  and  virtue,  too.  Yes,  armed 
men  marching  southward  with  swords  drawn 
and  bayonets  in  place  may  represent  virtue 
— the  Czar's  idea  of  virtue.  I  also  understand 
that  General  Weyler  prefers  the  Shaw  Mem- 
orial to  Bacchante.  But  why  could  n't  Bos- 
ton have  both?  Well,  I  '11  tell  you  why:  War 
is  a  thing— a  grim,  wild,  savage  thing.  War 
means  to  march  and  shoot  and  stab  and 


strike,  and  these  are  actions  all  can  compre- 
hend; but  Bacchante  is  an  idea,  a  thought,  a 
phantasy,  a  chord  of  music  half  forgotten  — 
a  dream.  Boston  cannot  dream,  therefore 
Bacchante  was  not  for  Boston.  And  bear  in 
mind  the  subject  under  discussion  is  Art  not 
Shaw — for  Shaw,  the  man,  all  honor;  but 
the  Shaw  Memorial  represents  the  rudimen- 
tary barbarism  that 


EINGS  hopelessly  separ- 
ated from  us  are  not  ours : 
a  god  we  cannot  love,  a 
man  we  may.  Love  implies 
a  certain  equality;  it  also 
implies  an  insufficiency,  a  desire 
unsatisfied,  a  wish  not  gratified,  a 
hope  unfulfilled,  a  prayer  unanswer- 
ed. Love  asks  the  help  of  another, 
it  demands  the  sympathy  of  one  with 
whom  we  may  walk  hand  in  hand; 
it  means  fraility,  and  paradoxically, 
it  means  strength,  for  only  as  we 
admit  our  insufficiency  can  we  gain 
power.  We  win  by  abandonment. 
Alone  a  man  is  only  a  leaf  in  the 
storm,  but  to  love  and  be  loved  is  to 
ally  ourselves  with  the  powers  of  Na- 
ture: to  be  grappled  to  our  kind,  and 
through  them  to  the  Universe,  with 
hoops  of  steel.  Thus  is  weakness 
allied  with  strength. 
CThe  voice  should  be  the  sound- 
ing-board of  the  soul  Ag&Ag®>&&!>&g?> 


lingers  in  the  lap 
of  Boston.  What 's 
that — "And  so  does 
Bacchante?"  God 
bless  my  soul!  per- 
hapsshedoes— how 
serious  we  are  get- 
ting! 

|W|AN'S  actions 

Iffll  may  ke  rignt 
KaflJ  but  his  rea- 
sons for  these  ac- 
tions, never.  tLWe 
band  ourselves  with 
our  kind  in  a  social 
way  because  it  is 
the  law  of  our  na- 
ture, &  then  we  con- 
ceal ourselves  from 
ourselves  by  giving 
a  reason.  A  religi- 
ous denomination  is 
an  excuse  for  cer- 
tain people  forming 
a  little  social  com- 
munity. I  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  the 
action:  I  only  point 
out  the  phenomen- 
on. It  is  an  instinct 
implanted  deep  in 
the  heart  of  human- 
ity, and  has  come  to 
us  adown  the  ages 
from  the  times  when  self-preservation  made 
clanship  a  necessity.  The  strife  of  existence 
set  every  man's  hand  against  every  other 
and  to  stand  against  a  greater  foe  clanship 
came  in,  and  certain  men  swore  to  other 
men  fealty  and  fidelity.  The  line  of  cleavage 
is  purely  social  affinity,  but  men  say  it  is  be- 
cause one  believes  in  baptism  by  immersion 
and  the  other  by  a  touch  of  the  forefinger. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  112 


ill 


The  excuse  is  accepted  seriously  by  both 
parties  and  henceforth  you  have  two  insti- 
tutions instead  of  one.  And  the  only  thing 
that  will  ever  remove  that  artificial  idea  that 
one  kind  of  baptism  is  right  and  another 
wrong  is  social  affinity.  Women's  Clubs  are 
everywhere  breaking  down  sectarian  lines 
and  lessening  faith  in  "justification"  and 
"original  sin,"  sim- 
ply because  Presby- 
terian women  find 
that  Unitarian  wo- 
men arecompanion- 
able.  And  we  have 
always  known  that 
whenever  a  stalwart 
young  Baptist  falls 
in  love  with  a  char- 
ming young  Metho- 
dist, either  one  or 
the  other  will  soon 
shed  all  conscienti- 
ous denominational 
scruples  concern- 
ing tweedledee  and 
tweedledum.  If  men 
will  ever  grow  great 
enough  so  that  they 
no  longer  fear  other 
men,  &  feel  at  home 
with  all  their  kind, 
instead  of  merely 
with  a  few,  then  will 
sect  disappear,  for 
sectarianism  is  only 
a  masked  religious 
vendetta.  The  ven- 
detta never  had  a 
sufficient  excuse,al- 
though,  of  course, 
it  ever  thinks  it  has; 
and  anything  in  this 
day  that  separates 
man  from  man  is 
not  just  right.  <L  Many  of  the  items  of  beliefs 
that  have  kept  men  apart  are  now  considered 
unknowable  or  merely  fancies.  Since  the  sci- 
entific method  has  displaced  the  theological, 
it  is  found  that  there  are  certain  laws  for  men's 
welfare  and  growth  that  may  be  disclosed  by 
observation  and  investigation  more  than  by 
"inspiration."  Man  will  always  be  separated 
from  man  until  their  interests  are  identical. 


H^jLL  adown  the  ages  society  has  made 
m&ffi,  the  mistake  of  crucifying  its  Saviors 
ms&£>  between  thieves.  That  is  to  say,  society 
has  recognized  in  the  Savior  a  dangerous 
quality  —  something  about  him  akin  to  a 
thief,  and  his  career  has  been  cut  short. 
CWe  have  telephones  and  trolley  cars,  yet 
we  have  not  traveled  far  into  the  realm  of 
spirit,and  our  X-ray 


HAVE  noticed  that  in 
households  where  a  strap 
hangs  behind  the  kitchen 
door,  ready  for  use,  it  is 
not  utilized  so  much  for 
pure  discipline  as  to  ease  the  feelings 
of  the  parent.  They  say  that  expres- 
sion is  a  need  of  the  human  heart; 
and  I  am  also  convinced  that  in  many 
hearts  there  is  a  very  strong  desire 
at  times  to  "thrash"  some  one.  Who 
it  is  makes  little  difference,  but  chil- 
dren being  helpless  and  the  law  giv- 
ing us  the  right,  we  find  gratification 
by  falling  upon  them  with  straps, 
birch  rods,  slippers,  ferrules,  hair 
brushes  or  apple-tree  sprouts.  C  No 
student  of  pedagogics  now  believes 
that  the  free  use  of  the  rod  ever  made 
a  child  "good,"  but  all  agree  that  it 
has  often  served  as  a  safety  valve  for 
pent  up  emotion  in  parent  &  teacher. 
C  Salvation  lies  in  carrying  the  Froe- 
bel  methods  into  manhood 


has  given  us  no  in- 
sight into  the  heart 
of  things.  C  Should 
the  Savior  come  to- 
day and  preach  the 
same  gospel  that  He 
taught  before,  soci- 
ety would  see  that 
His  experience  was 
repeated. 

Society  is  so  dull 
and  dense,  so  lack- 
ing in  spiritual  vi- 
sion, so  dumb  and 
so  beast-like  that  it 
does  not  know  the 
difference  between 
a  thief  and  the  only 
begotten  Son.  Cln  a 
frantic  effort  to  for- 
get its  hollowness  it 
takes  to  ping-pong, 
parchesi  and  pro- 
gressive euchre,  & 
seeks  to  lose  itself 
and  find  a  solace  in 
tiddledywinks.Now 
and  then  it  blinks 
stupidly  and  cries, 
"Away  with  Him!" 
or  it  stops  its  game 
long  enough  to  pass 
gall  and  vinegar  on 
a  spear  to  One  it  has 


thrust  beyond  the 
pale.  For  the  woman  who  has  loved  much, 
society  has  but  one  verdict:  Crucify  her! 
The  best  and  the  worst  are  hanged  on  one 
tree.  In  the  abandon  of  a  great  love  there  is  a 
God-like  quality  which  places  a  woman  very 
close  to  the  holy  of  holies,  and  yet  such  a 
one,  not  having  complied  with  society's 
edicts,  is  thrust  out,  and  society,  Pilate-like, 
washes  its  hands  in  innocency. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  113 


rmHAT  IS  TRUTH?  Man  seeks  happi- 
hVh  ness:  a^  men  see^  happiness.  There 
WkMM  is  no  other  goal  or  intent  in  life;  and 
whether  men  seek  it  through  license  or  ascet- 
icism, through  selfishness  or  sacrifice,  it  is 
the  one  eternal  quest.  €1  There  is  no  other 
aim  in  life  for  any  man  or  any  woman  than 
this  —  happiness.  Even  the  suicide  seeks 
happiness,  his  act 


that  slips  the  cable 
of  existence,  being 
always  an  attempt  to 
flee  from  misery — 
which  is  the  oppo- 
site pole  from  that 
of  happiness. 
In  man's  search  for 
happiness  his  per- 
ceptions pass  thro' 
three  separate  dis- 
tinct forms  of  rea- 
son. The  first  and 
lowest  form  is  rather 

a  condition  of  un-reason  than  reason.  The 
man  does  not  yet  comprehend  that  life  is  a 
sequence,  that  this  happens  to-day  because 
that  happened  yesterday — that  effect  follows 
cause.  He  seeks  happiness,  and  he  wants  it 
now.  He  knows  nothing  of  the  pleasures  of 
anticipation,  the  beauty  of  patience,  the 
splendid  reward  for  self-control. 
The  lowest  type  in  this  stage  is  represented 
by  the  savage.  Mrs.  General  Custer  tells  of 
a  certain  band  of  Sioux  Indians  that  were 
being  conducted  to  a  reservation  by  a  regi- 
ment of  soldiers.  A  hard  march  was  ahead, 
and  this  was  fully  explained  to  all.  Two 
days'  rations  were  dealt  out  to  soldiers  and 
captives  alike.  Immediately  on  receiving  their 
rations,  the  Indians  squatted  on  the  ground 
and  ate  the  two  days'  rations  at  a  sitting. 
Some  were  unable  to  move;  others  were 
sick,  and  the  march  was  delayed  until  these 
found  relief.  The  soldiers,  of  course,  stowed 
the  eatables  in  their  haversacks,  and  pieced 
them  out  so  as  to  last.  C  The  Indian  knows 
no  such  thing  as  restraint — if  he  gets  hold  of 
whiskey  he  drinks  until  he  falls  down  stupe- 
fied: hence  the  laws  against  selling  strong 
drink  to  Red  Men.  The  Indian  banks  no  fuel 
against  the  winter — in  fact,  he  is  surprised 
that  winter  should  ever  come  again.  He  prays 
the  Great  Spirit  to  prolong  the  Indian  Sum- 


monds  in  their  shirt 
bosoms,  carrying 
two  watches  where 
one  would  answer 
the  purpose,  drink- 
ing champagne  like 
water  and  wooing 
the  means  of  debili- 
ty &  disease,  forget- 
ful of  the  morrow. 
C  Still  other  men, 
a  little  higher  up  the 
scale,  but  still  in  this 
First  Stage  of  Rea- 


mer indefinitely,  and  expects  his  prayer  to 
be  answered.  C.The  difference  between  a 
great  many  white  men  and  the  Indian,  in  this 
matter  of  reckoning  consequences,  is  slight. 
Men  give  notes,  hoping  and  half  expecting 
they  will  never  come  due.  They  draw  health 
drafts  upon  futurity  and  hope  to  evade  pay- 
ment. The  sight  is  common  of  men  in  full 
,       .  dress,  wearing  dia- 

O  literature  that  is  not 
filled  with  this  subtle  sug- 
gestiveness,  flavored  as  it 
were  with  unuttered  feel- 
ing, can  live.  Great  liter- 
ature ever  casts  a  mysterious  purple 
shadow. 

CThe  Millennium  will  never  come 
until  governments  cease  from  gov- 
erning, and  the  meddler  is  at  rest. 

son  (or  un-reason)  will  care  for  their  physi 
cal  health,  collect  fuel  against  the  coming 
winter,  materially  provide  for  the  rainy  day, 
but  will  leave  their  whole  spiritual  acreage  a 
tangle  of  briars  and  brambles.  They  will 
study  statute  law  so  as  to  keep  on  the  right 
side  of  the  sheriff,  and  yet  deal  in  subterfuge, 
trickery,  untruth,  and  play  hide-and-seek 
with  the  decalog,  expecting  to  go  unpunished. 
CLThey  do  not  know  that  to  enslave  another 
is  to  have  one  end  of  the  chain  riveted  to 
your  own  wrist.  They  do  not  know  that  to 
cheat  another  is  to  cheat  yourself.  They  do 
not  know  that  nothing  can  be  concealed  or 
hidden,  and  that  everything,  good  or  bad, 
reacts  on  the  doer,  and  that  men  are  pun- 
ished by  their  sins,  not  for  them. 
They  are  a  little  higher  in  intelligence  than 
the  savage,  but  still  in  the  First  Stage — they 
seek  happiness  by  appropriation.  They  plot, 
plan,  connive,  scheme,  and  hold  back  a  part 
of  the  price,  with  intent  of,  and  in  the  hope 
of  securing  a  personal  and  exclusive  good — 
that  is  to  say,  happiness. 
The  Second  Stage  is  the  Period  of  Virtue. 
The  man  has  caught  glimpses  into  the  Law 
of  Consequences.  He  knows  that  headache 
follows  debauch,  that  satiety  follows  license, 
that  notes  come  due,  and  that  there  is  a  pal- 
pable difference  between  right  and  wrong. 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  114 


That  is,  in  fact,  his  distinguishing  feature- 
he  knows  right  from  wrong.  He  thinks  much 
on  this  subject,  he  talks  about  it,  writes  about 
it,  preaches  about  it — right  and  wrong.  He 
separates  this  from  that,  eschews  evil  and 
cleaves  to  that  which  is  good :  his  life  is  given 
up  to  separating  good  from  bad,  and  all  that 
which  he  thinks  is  good  he  desires  to  appro- 
priate, and  what  he 
thinks  is  bad  he  dis- 
cards. C  If  he  has 
the  power  he  passes 
laws  forbidding  un- 
der severe  penalties 
this,that&theother. 
He  sees  that  certain 
things  are  "sins"  & 
so  he  would  stamp 
them  out.  He  knows 
what  is  best  (or  he 
thinks  he  does),  and 
for  the  good  of  men 
he  would  restrain 
them,  and  compel 


could  n't  whistle.  "So  it  is  with  my  learned 
friend,"  said  Lincoln.  "When  he  thinks,  he 
cannot  talk,  and  when  he  begins  to  talk,  he 
leaves  off  thinking."  CI  This  story  applies  to 
many  good  people  in  Stage  Two  that  we  are 
now  considering.  They  cannot  love  virtue 
without  hating  vice,  and  finally  they  find  so 
much  to  avoid  that  most  of  their  time  is  spent 
„  in  shunning  things. 

HERE  is  no  perfect  ex- 
pression for  thought,  only 
an  attempt  at  expression. 
This  is  done  by  means  of 
symbols  appealing  to  the 
He  who  conveys  highest 


senses 

emotions  by  the  fewest  symbols  is 
the  greater  artist. 

C  All  men  are  my  brothers,  not 
just  those  who  belong  *e=&> 


them  to  follow  in  the 
straight  and  narrow  path.  Such  were  the 
Puritans,  the  Huguenots,  the  early  Metho- 
dists and  all  that  excellent  class  that  exists 
now  and  has  always  existed,  known  as  Primi- 
tive Christians.  You  may  know  the  people  of 
the  Second  Stage  by  the  propensity  to  sepa- 
rate the  good  from  the  bad.  They  divide  the 
days  into  secular  and  sacred;  they  have 
buildings  that  are  "sacred";  and  rites,  cere- 
monies and  functions  that  are  "holy."  They 
even  have  Holy  Men  who  are  supposed  to 
be  close  to  the  Throne  of  God,  and  these 
men  "intercede"  in  behalf  of  others  who 
have  very  small  influence,  if  any,  with  Deity. 
C  Men  in  this  Second  Stage  believe  that 
God  loves  some  men  more  than  others,  that 
he  hates  certain  people,  and  that  some  souls 
will  be  "saved"  and  others  "lost."  They  are 
always  separating  good  from  bad,  right  from 
wrong,  sheep  from  goats,  angels  from  devils, 
virtue  from  vice,  learned  from  ignorant,  sin- 
ful from  righteous,  truth  from  error. 
Lincoln  once  arose  (and  he  used  to  arise  a 
joint  at  a  time)  to  reply  to  the  learned  coun- 
sel on  the  other  side.  He  began  by  telling  of 
a  steamboat  that  used  to  run  on  the  Sanga- 
mon. The  boiler  of  this  boat  was  so  small  and 
its  whistle  so  big,  that  when  it  whistled  it 
could  n't  run,  and  when  it  was  running  it 


It  is  as  if  Lincoln's 
Sangamon  steam- 
boat had  spent  most 
of  its  time  blowing 
its  whistle,  in  which 
case  it  would  have 
made  no  progress. 
C,  These  men  can- 
not love  virtue  with- 
out hating  vice  — 
their  detestation  of 
wrong  evolves  in 
them  a  mood  which 
they  call  "righteous 


indignation";  so  in  spite  of  their  undoubted 
honesty  and  deep  sincerity,  they  are  dan- 
gerous if  given  unlimited  power.  They  hate 
the  wrong  more  than  they  love  the  right,  so 
in  many  instances  there  is  more  hate  than 
love  in  their  characters:  the  entire  fabric  of 
their  lives  is  stained  with  hate. 
Happily  this  class  has  many  lines  of  cleav- 
age, and  so  separates  into  denominations, 
sects  and  clans  that  hold  each  other  in  check. 
CiCarlyle  tells  of  a  certain  village  in  the 
dominion  of  Peter  the  Great  where  a  few 
Catholic  families  dwelt.  The  "best  citizens" 
felt  that  these  Catholics  were  a  menace  to 
the  well-being  of  the  place,  as  "they  were 
worshipers  of  images  and  hopelessly  given 
over  to  popery."  So,  for  the  good  of  the 
place,  and  the  Glory  of  God,  the  first  citi- 
zens sent  a  commission  to  the  King  asking 
permission  to  kill  the  Catholics. 
The  King  heard  their  prayer  and  agreed  to 
give  them  the  desired  permission,  provided 
they  would  agree  to  his  giving  other  Catho- 
lics permission  to  kill  them. 
"Oh,  but  your  Majesty,"  replied  the  Com- 
missioners, "there  is  a  difference— you  seem 
to  forget  that  we  are  in  possession  of  the 
True  Faith  !"€l  Men  in  this  Second  Stage 
live  a  life  of  struggle— they  wrestle  with  the 
spirit  for  a  blessing,  they  struggle  with  the 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  115 


world  of  wrong;  and  they  tussle  with  the 
demon  within.  They  believe  that  their  own 
natures  are  rooted  in  evil,  and  to  eradicate 
this  devil  within  is  the  chief  thought  of  their 
lives.  Their  energies  are  given  over,  in  great 
degree,  to  "resisting  temptation."  They  are 
abstainers,  and  to  abstain  from  certain  things 
they  think  constitutes  "virtue."  Their  lives 
are  largely  negative, 


not  positive;  and  to 
suppress  &  repress 
they  believe  is  the 
duty  of  every  one. 
In  fact,  the  idea  of 
"  duty "  is  strong 
upon  them.  Duty  is 
the  thing  you  desire 
to  do,  but  you  pre- 
tend you  don't,  be- 
cause you  want  a 
special  reward  for 
doing  it. 

The  First  Stage  does 
not  distinguish  be- 
tween right&wrong. 
CLThe  distinguish- 
ing feature  of  the 
Second  Stage  is,  it 
separates  right  from 
wrong. 

The  Third  Stage  re- 
sembles the  First  to 
the  uninitiated,  for 
it  does  not  seek  to 
separate  right  from 
wrong.  It  recognizes 
that  at  the  base  of 
evil  lies  good;  and 
that  right  and  wrong 
are  relative  terms  & 
easily  shift  places. 
It  believes  more  in 
the  goodness  of  bad 
people  than  the  bad- 
ness of  good  people.  It  sees  that  sin  is  mis- 
directed energy,  and  also  that  often  through 
sin  do  men  reach  the  light,  and  it  recognizes 
that  that  which  teaches  cannot  be  wholly  bad. 
H  Of  course,  these  Three  Stages,  that  I  have 
outlined,  are  to  a  degree  arbitrary  classifica- 
tions, for  they  all  overlap  more  or  less,  and 
a  man  may  be  in  one  stage  one  day  and  in 
another  the  next.  Yet  true  types  of  Stages 


F  you  start  and  move  in  a 
direct  line,  and  keep  mov- 
ing, you  will  go  around  the 
world — eventually  coming 
back  to  the  place  of  be- 
ginning. Life  is  a  spiral  and  all  things 
move  in  circles;  and  yet  if  you  ask 
the  man  he  will  tell  you  he  is  mov- 
ing straight  ahead,  for  his  senses 
(very  fallacious  things)  tell  him  so. 
Drunkards  make  good  temperance 
cranks;  temperance  cranks  drunk- 
ards. Ascetics  turn  libertine  in  an 
hour;  and  libertines,  who  have  ex- 
hausted their  capacity  to  sin,  make 
zealous  ascetics.  Thus  we  see  that 
the  opposite  of  things  are  alike  and 
the  things  that  are  different  are,  in 
fact,  often  the  same. 
CGod  only  calculates  on  each  man 
being  himself,  and  the  presumption 
originally  was  that  he  would  be  hon- 
est. The  Universe  is  not  planned 
for  duplicity  &$&>&&&^ 


Number  One  and  Number  Two  exist  on 
every  hand,  and  can  easily  be  recalled  by 
all  observing  men.  Stage  Number  Three  is 
not  so  sharply  defined;  men  in  this  class  are 
often  unknown  to  those  nearest  them,  and  to 
the  uninitiated  they  are  sometimes  pigeon- 
holed with  Class  One — they  are  branded 
"infidels."  But  you  need  not  be  disturbed 
by  this,  for  if  you 
have  read  history 
you  know  that  the 
"infidel"  has  often 
been  a  person  with 
faith  plus.Cl  He  is 
ahead  of  his  fellows, 
when  they  are  quite 
sure  he  is  behind. 
C  The  true  type  of 
man  in  Stage  Three 
believes  in  all  re- 
ligions and  in  all 
gods.  He  sympathi- 
zes with  every  sect, 
but  belongs  to  none. 
He  recognizes  that 
every  religion  is  a 
prayerforLightand 
a  reaching  out  for 
help.  He  recognizes 
that  there  is  good  in 
all,  and  that  a  man's 
"god"  is  the  high- 
est concept  of  what 
he  would  like  to  be 
— his  god  is  himself 
at  his  best,  and  his 
devil  is  himself  at 
his  worst.C  Yet  the 
wise  man  does  not 
cavil  at  this  multi- 
plicity of  beliefs  and 
strife  of  sects.  For 
himself  he  would 
much  prefer  a  reli- 
gion that  would  unite  men,  not  divide  them. 
C.Yet  he  perceives  that  denominations  rep- 
resent stages  of  development  in  the  onward 
and  upward  spiral  of  existence.  There  is 
much  clay  in  their  formation,  and  all  are  in 
a  seething  state  of  unrest;  but  each  is  doing 
its  work  in  ministering  to  a  certain  type  of 
mind.  Birds  moult  their  feathers  because 
they  are  growing  better  feathers;  and  so  in 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  116 


time  will  these  same  "orthodox"  believers 
gladly  moult  the  opinions  for  which  they 
once  stood  ready  to  fight. 
The  wise  man  not  only  believes  in  all  reli- 
gions, but  in  all  men  —  good,  bad,  ignorant, 
the  weak,  the  strong.  He  recognizes  that  night 
is  as  necessary  as  day;  that  all  seasons  are 
good;  and  that  all  weather  is  beautiful.  The 
fierce  blowing  wind 
purifies  the  air,  just 
astherunningwater 
purifies  itself. 
Each  &  everything 
is  a  part  of  the  great 
Whole.  We  are  bro- 
ther to  the  bird,  the 
animal,  the  tree  and 
the  flower.  Life  is 
everywhere — even 
in  the  rocks — "a 
square  foot  of  sod 
contains  at  least  two 
hundred  separate 
formsofexistence," 
said  Grant  Allen. 
Life  is  everywhere, 
and  it  is  all  one  Life, 
and  we  are  particles 
of  it.  €L  Of  all  hu- 
man reason  none  is 
more  valuable  than 
that  higher  under- 
standing which  al- 
ways comprehends 
that  in  nature  mis- 
takes are  not  made; 
and  that  all  seem- 
ing errors  of  men— 
the  so-called  "sins" 
are  stepping  stones 
that  can  be  used  to 
reach  a  higher  good. 
H  And  this  Life  is 
good.  CLEvery  truth 
is  a  paradox,  and  every  strong  man  supplies 
the  argument  for  his  own  undoing;  each 
truth  is  only  a  half  truth  —  and  the  statement 
of  truth  always  involves  a  contradiction. 
Wise  men  realize  these  things,  and  so  they 
cease  to  quibble.  They  know  you  can  explain 
nothing  to  any  one— if  the  man  does  not 
already  know  it,  your  anxious  efforts  to  make 
him  see  will  all  be  vain  and  futile. 


Every  man  does  what  he  does  because  he, 
at  the  moment,  thinks  it  is  the  best  thing  for 
him  to  do.  He  believes  he  makes  a  choice, 
but  the  truth  is,  his  nature  succumbs  to  the 
strongest  attraction ;  and  he  is  as  much  under 
the  dominion  of  natural  laws  as  if  he  were 
pure  oxygen  or  nitrogen.  Schopenhauer  once 
said  that  if  you  saw  a  stone  rolling  down  hill 
and  you  should  stop 


E  reap  as  we  sow.  We  hear 
that  quite  often,  don't  we  ? 
But  it  is  only  a  half-truth, 
for  not  only  do  we  reap 
as  we  sow  but  we  reap  as 
other  men  have  sown.  We  are  heirs 
to  the  past — its  good  and  ill,  and  all 
the  millions  of  men  who  have  gone 
before  us  have  for  us  prepared  the 
way.  Not  only  do  we  reap  the  ripe 
grain  that  others  have  planted,  but 
our  bare  and  bleeding  feet  tread  the 
thistles  sown  by  those  long  dead.  I 
have  n't  much  power,  but  I  have 
power  enough,  if  I  choose,  to  make 
several  hundred  people  think  this 
earth  is  hell.  I  can  make  them  reap 
the  nettles  that  I  sow. 
H  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  new 
truth.  Truth  is  as  old  as  fate.  There 
is  no  plural  Truth — there  is  only 
the  one  Truth,  and  this  is  very  old 
and  very  simple.  All  wise  men  have 
known  it  ^i^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


it  and  ask  it  why  it 
rolled  down  hill,  if 
it  had  conscious  life, 
it  would  undoubt- 
edly answer,  "I  roll 
down  hill  because  I 
choose  to."  C  Any 
man  of  certain  tem- 
perament, who  has 
had  certain  experi- 
ences, &  is  possess- 
ed of  certain  qual- 
ities, will  always  do 
acertainthingunder 
certain  conditions. 
And  if  you  can  find 
another  like  him,  he 
will  also  do  exactly 
the  same  thing  as  the 
first  under  like  con- 
ditions.C  Knowing 
all  these  things,  the 
man  of  wisdom  does 
not  blame  anybody 
for  anything.  C  He 
may  pity,  but  he 
does  not  attempt  to 
punish,  forheknows 
thatthe  Law  of  Con- 
sequences sees  that 
exact  justice  is  done 
to  every  one,  and 
he  never  makes  the 
mistake  of  suppos- 
ing that  he  is  divine- 
ly appointed  to  act  the  part  of  a  Section  of 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  He  will  influence  if 
he  can  — he  will  reform,  educate  and  lead 
out,  but  he  will  not  try  to  repress  or  chastise. 
C.His  life  will  be  one  long  pardon;  one  in- 
exhaustible pity;  one  infinite  love,  and  there- 
fore, one  infinite  strength. 
Anchorage  is  what  most  people  pray  for, 
when  what  we  really  need  is  God's  great 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  117 


open  sea.  The  command,  "Sail  on,  and  on, 
and  on,  and  on!"  comes  only  to  those  who 
are  in  Stage  Three,  or  the  Stage  of  Enlight- 
enment. C  It  is  almost  too  much  to  expect 
that  the  period  of  insight  and  perfect  poise 
should  be  more  than  transient.  Yet  it  does 
exist,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should 
not  in  time  become  a  habit  of  life.  Most  Free 
Souls  who  have 
reached  this  state 
of  "Cosmic  Con- 
sciousness," will 
testify  that  insight 
came  first  as  a  thrill, 
and  the  periods  then 
gradually  extended 
as  mastery  became 
complete.  It  was  a 
matter  of  growth — 
an  evolution.  CYet 
growth  never  pro- 
ceeds at  an  even, 
steady  pace,  either 
in  the  realm  of  spirit 
or  matter.  There  are 
bursts  and  bounds, 
throes  and  throbs, 
and  then  times  of  ap- 
parent inaction.  But 
this  inaction  is  only 
a  gathering  togeth- 
er of  forces  for  the 
coming  leap — the  fallow  years  are  just  as 
natural,  just  as  necessary  as  the  years  of 
plenty,  d  "Who  shall  relieve  me  of  the  body 
of  this  death?"  cried  the  Prophet.  He  had 
in  mind  the  ancient  custom  of  punishing  the 
murderer  by  chaining  to  him  the  dead  body 
of  his  victim.  Wherever  the  man  went  he 
had  to  drag  the  putrifying  corpse — he  could 
not  disentangle  himself  from  the  result  of  his 
evil  act.  No  more  horrible  punishment  could 
possibly  be  devised;  but  Nature  has  a  plan 
of  retribution  that  is  very  much  akin  to  it. 
What  more  terrible  than  this:  The  evil  thing 
you  do  shall  at  once  become  an  integral  part 
of  what  you  are.C  You  cannot  escape  it— 
no  concealment  is  possible,  you  are  what 

Jou  are  on  account  of  what  you  have  done. 
LThe  man  who  imagined  that  scene  of  the 
"final  judgment"  where  the  righteous  file 
into  paradise  and  the  wicked  are  tumbled 
into  perdition,  had  a  certain  conception  of 


life.  And  this  conception  was  that  separation 
of  good  people  from  bad — with  an  impassa- 
ble gulf  between,  was  a  good  thing.  Yet  the 
man  to  whom  is  attributed  this  parable  did 
not  believe  in  extrication,  for  his  life  was  a 
living  protest  against  it.  He  deliberately  as- 
sociated with  so-called  bad  people,  and  surely 
had  more  love  for  the  sinner  than  he  had  for 
the  righteous.CThe 
Law  of  Consequen- 
ces works  in  both 
ways:  by  associa- 
tion with  the  sinner 
and  recognizing  the 
good  in  him,  you 
unconsciously  rec- 
ognize the  good  in 
yourself.  The  love 
you  give  away  is 
the  love  you  keep — 
by  benefiting  anoth- 
er you  benefit  your- 
self.C  The  thought 
of  getting  safely  out 
of  the  world  has  no 
part  in  life  of  the 
Enlightened  Man — 
to  live  fully  while 
here  is  his  problem 
—  one  world  at  a 
time  is  enough  for 
him.  C  He  believes 
that  that  which  is  good  here  is  good  in  every 
star,  and  the  Power  that  is  caring  for  him 
Now  will  not  forsake  him  Then. 

^HEN  I  tell  my  little  girl  about  the  First 
Man  and  the  First  Woman  who  lived 
in  a  Beautiful  Garden  and  were  per- 
fectly happy  until  they  disobeyed  God,  she 
says,  "Oh,  why  did  n't  they  mind  what  He 
said?"  And  then  she  throws  her  arms  about 
my  neck  and  assures  me  that  she  will  always 
do  just  what  I  wish  her  to.  So  she  confuses 
me  with  Deity,  and  gives  us  the  first  hint  of 
ancestor  worship,  for  I  am  the  biggest  and 
strongest  and  best  man  she  knows.  CL  Every 
one  obeys  me,  goodness,  they  have  to — well, 
I  guess  so!  C  And  as  the  years  go  by  and 
count  themselves  with  the  eternity  that  lies 
behind,  I  shall  not  be  here;  and  she  will  do 
as  I  have  done  and  as  you  have  done — stand 
by  an  open  grave  and  ask  in  anguish,  "If  a 


HE  chief  offense  of  some 
philosophers  is,  that  the 
world  as  it  is  does  not 
please  them.  They  are 
like  a  guest  who  yawns 
and  scowls  and  sneers:  he  is  quite 
determined  he  will  not  have  a  good 
time,  and  what  is  more,  he  will  not 
allow  others  to. 

All  lawyers  are  officers  of  the 
Court — servants  of  the  Goddess, 
who  being  blind,  never  sees  anything 
of  their  little  lapses. 
C  Kindness  is  something  we  receive 
and  have  to  pass  along  in  order  to 
keep  it  *4gs®> 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  118 


man  die  shall  he  live  again?"  And  the  fall- 
ing clods  will  give  no  sign  and  the  winds  that 
sigh  and  sob  through  the  trees  will  make  no 
reply;  but  hope  and  love  will  answer,  yes. 

[SHiSt  T  is  the  Scientist  who  now  takes  off  his 
M  M  shoes,  knowing  that  the  place  whereon 
BcLafl  he  stands  is  holy  ground.  Science  is 
reverent,  &  speaks 


mi 


with  lowered  voice, 
for  she  has  caught 
glimpses  of  myster- 
ies undefinable  and 
thoughts  have  come 
to  her  that  are  be- 
yond speech.  Sci- 
ence cultivates  the 
receptive  heart  and 
thehospitablemind, 
and  her  prayer  is 
for  more  light,  and 
to  this  prayer  the 
answer  is  even  now 
arriving. 

Of  course  I  know 
that  there  has  ever 
been  a  tendency  in 
the  church  to  per- 
secute the  man  who 
believed  too  much 
and  to  cry  anathe- 
ma upon  the  one 
who  had  faith  plus.  The  men  and  women  of 
transcendent  soul  and  luminous  spirit  have 
ever  had  to  make  their  way,  not  only  against 
the  public,  but  against  the  majority  in  the 
church;  and  usually  the  church  has  been 
their  bitterest  enemy  and  most  clamorous 
detractor.  In  the  church  there  has  ever  been 
a  struggle  between  the  cold  clammy  spirit  of 
materialism  and  the  saints,  poets,  prophets 
and  mystics.  But  the  materialists  have  now 
ousted  the  saints  as  the  cuckoo  does  the 
thrush.  Materialism  has  won  and  the  day  has 
come  when  the  church  must  be  awarded  the 
palm;  for  the  proud  triumph  is  hers  of  hold- 
ing a  monopoly  on  disbelief,  doubt  and  denial. 
HAnd  when  Dr.  Edward  Everett  Hale,  at 
the  grave  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  five  great  poets 
of  America  were  all  outside  the  pale  of  the 
orthodox  church,  he  could  truthfully  have 
added,  and  so  are  all  poets,  prophets,  saints 


and  seers  of  earth.  They  are  in  the  camp  of 
her  whom  the  church  has  so  long  feared  and 
fought — science. 

R9JES>  yes,  I  am  a  Zionist.  I  long  to  be  a 
citizen  of  the  Eternal  City  of  fine 
HI  B  minds.  I  would  belong  to  that  brother- 
hood that  cultivates  the  receptive  heart  and 
the  generous  mind. 
HAT  was  a  fool  wish  Of    My  neighbors  are 

often  hundreds  of 
miles  apart.CThey 
are  the  men  &  wo- 
men of  earth  who 
think  and  feel  and 
dream,  &  ask  them- 
selves each  morn- 
ing, What  is  Truth? 
We  think  better  of 
Pilate  for  his  ques- 
tion. To  meet  a  god 
face  to  face  and  not 
ask  would  have  be- 
tokened complete 
imbecility.  But  Je- 
sus did  not  answer, 
—He  could  n't.  All 
truth  is  relative,  and 
that  message  which 
comes  out  of  the 
great  Silence  to  you 


Bobby  Burns  —  quite  in 
keeping  with  his  going  up 
to  Edinburgh  and  having 
his  heart  broken  by  vain 
striving  after  things  for  which  he 
had  no  use.C  Let  a  man  once  see 
himself  as  others  see  him  and  all 
enthusiasm  vanishes  from  his  heart; 
and  when  that  is  gone  he  might  as 
well  die  at  once,  for  enthusiasm  is 
the  one  necessary  ingredient  in  the 
recipe  for  doing  good  work. 
CL I  expect  to  see  the  day  when  no 
school-teacher  will  have  more  than 
twenty  pupils 


can  only  be  inter- 
preted to  another  who,  too,  has  listened  and 
heard.  Yes,  let  us  all  be  Zionists  and  dwell 
in  the  New  Jerusalem  of  Celestial  Truth. 

WW?  °^ten  haPPens  tnat  (he  man  we  call 
HH  "infidel"  is  one  with  faith  plus.  Per- 
HJM  secutor  and  martyr  are  cut  off  of  one 
piece,  and  shift  places  very  easily — it 's  all 
a  question  of  transient  power. 
And  so,  viewing  the  question  on  all  sides,  it 
seems  to  me  that  Ali  Baba,  the  alleged  Cor- 
ner Grocery  Infidel,  is  at  the  last,  a  man  of 
deep  religious  conviction,  although  he  him- 
self is  not  in  the  least  aware  of  it.  Surely  the 
Kingdom  of  God  does  not  consist  in  the  rigid 
observance  of  any  set  of  petty  forms  —  it  is  a 
condition  of  the  spirit.  In  actual  life  my 
friend  practices  every  Christian  duty.  He 
cheerfully  does  every  duty  that  lies  nearest 
him.  He  is  kind,  generous,  industrious,  tire- 
less in  well-doing,  honest.  His  life  is  one  of 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  119 


absolute  simplicity.  He  is  the  friend  of  chil- 
dren, a  lover  of  animals,  and  ever  you  will 
find  him  on  the  side  of  the  weak,  the  defense- 
less and  the  oppressed.  He  enters  heartily 
into  life,  partakes  moderately  of  all  good 
things,  and  his  heart-attitude  is  one  of  grati- 
tude, generosity  and  shining  truth. 
To  do  good  is  his  religion.  And  if  it  should 
ever  happen  that 
you  fell  among  rob- 
bers &  were  beaten 
sore  &  left  for  dead, 
andAHBabapassed 
that  way,  he  would 
not  only  bind  up 
your  wounds  and 
take  you  to  a  place 
of  safety,  but  would 
see  the  Good  Sam- 
aritan and  go  him 
one  better  by  organ- 
izing a  posse  of  far- 
mers and  going  in 
hot  pursuit  of  the 
thieves.  CAli  Baba 
has  been  my  faith- 
ful helper  for  near  a 
score  of  years.  His 
fidelity  has  given  me 
days  of  rest  that  oth- 
erwise would  have 
been  impossible;  he 
has  added  to  my  ma- 
terial gains;  and  his 
cheerful  example  of 
doing  the  thing  that 
ought  to  be  done, 
without  thought  of 

reward  or  special  favor,  has  been  to  me  a 
continual  inspiration.  €1  At  times  when  those 
I  thought  were  friends  proved  cold  and  cal- 
loused, and  the  way  was  dark  with  uncer- 
tainty, and  all  my  plans  seemed  vanishing  in 
mist,  I  have  taken  fresh  courage  when  I 
thought  of  one  who  lives  content  with  small 
means,  talks  gently,  acts  frankly,  bears  all 
cheerfully  and  does  all  bravely — for  such 
is  Ali  Baba  of  East  Aurora,  Erie  Co.,  N.  Y. 

jNCE  there  was  a  man  who  lived  in 
France.  And  the  man  was  n't  very 
rich  or  very  poor — but  just  comfort- 
able. He  lived  in  a  snug  house  of  five  rooms. 


And  one  day  there  came  word  that  the  Em- 
peror would  journey  that  way  and  the  man's 
wife  thought  it  would  be  a  fine  thing  to  en- 
tertain the  Emperor,  for  it  would  give  the 
family  Distinction.  And  so  the  man  and  the 
wife  took  all  their  earnings  and  hired  masons 
and  carpenters  and  made  four  of  the  rooms 
into  a  Salon.  They  also  put  in  a  marble  stair- 
case and  big  mirrors 

RAZOR  with  which  you 


cannot  shave  may  have 
better  metal  in  it  than  one 
with  a  perfect  edge.  One 
has  been  sharpened  and 
the  other  not.  I  am  very  sure  that 
the  men  who  write  best  do  not  nec- 
essarily know  the  most;  fate  has  put 
an  edge  on  them — that  's  all.  A  good 
kick  may  start  a  stone  rolling,  when 
otherwise  it  rests  on  the  mountain 
side  for  a  generation. 
CHate  hurts  worse  the  man  who 
nurses  it;  all  selfishness  robs  the 
mind  of  its  divine  insight  and  cheats 
the  soul  that  would  know. 
€LSo  long  as  governments  set  the 
example  of  killing  their  enemies, 
private  individuals  will  occasionally 
kill  theirs 


&  bought  much  fine 
Furniture.  And  all 
the  time  they  and 
their  children  hud- 
dled in  one  room. 
So  they  waited  for 
the  Emperor.  They 
waited  a  month  — 
two  —  three  —  six. 
C,  But  the  Emperor 
did  not  come,  and  in 
fact  he  never  came, 
but  a  revolution  did, 
for  this  occurred  in 
France,  and  a  mob 
cut  off  the  Emper- 
or's head.  C.  Moral: 
Don't  starve  your 
soul  and  body  lying 
in  wait  for  Social 
Honors— they  may 
never  come — and  if 
they  should,  are  not 
comparable  in  val- 
ue to  peace  of  mind. 

mm  think  i  mi 

iflll  start  a  crus- 


w 


mJm  ade  for  the  re- 
formation of  reformers.  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  our  besetting  sin,  as  a  people,  is  neither 
intemperance  nor  unchastity,  but  plain  pre- 
tense. We  are  not  frank  and  honest  with 
ourselves  nor  with  each  other.  The  disposi- 
tion to  cheapen  and  adulterate  and  get  the 
start  of  our  fellows  is  the  universal  habit  of 
commerce  and  society.  We  are  copper  cents 
trying  to  pass  for  half  dollars.  My  suggestion 
is  that  for  a  whole  year  we  let  the  heathen 
rest,  resign  all  public  work  in  the  Personal 
Purity  League,  and  declare  a  vacation  in  the 
W.  C.  T.  U.  Then  each  man  and  woman  set 
a  guard  over  his  own  spirit  and  try  to  be 
greater  than  he  who  taketh  a  city.  In  other 


CONTEMPLATIONS 


Page  120 


words,  practice  the  old,  plain,  simple  virtues 
of  gentleness,  charity  and  honesty,  doing 
unto  others  as  we  would  they  would  do  unto 
us.  By  this  method  we  would  not  have  to 
talk  so  much  and  do  so  much,  and  so  could 
think  and  rest.  I 'm  sure  it  would  be  better 
for  our  nerves — and  possibly  just  as  well 
for  the  heathen  and  drunkard.  Stop  this 
violent  running  to 
and  fro,  and  be  sim- 
ple &  honest— only 
for  a  year!  And  then 
possibly  at  the  end 
ofthattimewecould 
sit  in  the  presence 
of  each  other  and 
be  silent  without  be- 
ing uncomfortable. 

J§TG|ND  I  wish  to 
W^M  say  right  here 
xfiafij!  that  the  indi- 
vidual that  does  a 
great  and  magnifi- 
cent work  is  on  close 
and  friendly  terms 
with  God.  He  is  the 
son  of  God,  and  it 
is  necessary  that  he 
should  feel  this  kin- 
ship in  order  to  do 
his  work.  From  Mo- 
ses, the  called  of 
God,  on  up  to  So- 
crates, who  listened 
to  the  Demon,  to 
George  Fox,  who 
heeded  the  Voice, 
to  the  Prophets  of  our  own  time,  all  lie  low 
in  the  Lord's  hand  and  listen  closely  ere 
they  act.  A  man  is  strong  only  when  he  feels 
that  he  is  backed  by  a  Power,  not  his  own, 
that  makes  for  Righteousness. 
When  I  think  of  these  brave  souls,  the  Sav- 
iours of  the  World,  who  have  sought  to  lead 
men  out  of  the  captivity  of  evil, —  feeling  and 
knowing  that  they  were  the  sons  of  God  —  I 
stand  uncovered.  But  a  mass  of  people — a 
crowd,  a  mob, — that  claims  to  be  a  "Chosen 
People,"  is  a  sight  to  make  angels  weep. 
"You  cannot  indict  a  class,"  said  Macaulay ; 
corporations  have  no  souls,  and  a  horde  that 
claims  to  be  inspired  is  only  a  howling  cow- 


AM  fully  convinced  that 
the  world  is  growing  bet- 
ter; but  I  am  also  fully 
convinced  that  the  pro- 
gress has  not  been  made 
that  many  think.  Any  man  who  be- 
lieves that  God  is  everywhere,  that 
a  certain  Divinity  is  in  all  men,  and 
that  Deity  manifests  Himself  to-day 
as  much  as  ever  He  did,  is  still 
hailed  by  many  as  infidel.  Too  much 
faith  receives  the  same  punishment 
at  the  hands  of  the  mob  as  none  at  all. 
CA11  your  possessions  are  just  to 
keep  you  out  of  mischief,  until 
Death,  the  good  old  nurse,  comes 
and  rocks  you  to  sleep. 
CTo  be  stupid  when  inclined  and 
dull  when  you  wish  is  a  boon  that 
only  goes  with  high  friendship 


ardly  Thing.  Great  men  are  ever  lonely  and 
live  apart,  but  birds  of  a  feather  flock  together 
because  they  fear  to  flock  alone.  They  want 
warmth  and  protection  — they  are  afraid. 

BfUT  in  the  great  world  women  occa- 
:  sionally  walk  off  the  dock  in  the  dark- 
si  ness,  and  then  struggle  for  life  in  the 
deep  waters.  Socie- 
ty jigs  &  ambles  by, 
with  a  coil  of  rope, 
but  before  throwing 
it,  demands  of  the 
drowning  one  a  cer- 
tificate of  character 
from  her  Pastor,  or 
a  letter  of  recom- 
mendation from  her 
Sunday  School  Su- 
perintendent, or  a 
testimonial  from  a 
School  Principal. 
Not  being  able  to 
produce  the  docu- 
ment the  struggler  is 
left  to  go  down  to 
her  death  in  dark- 
ness and  despair. 
CL I  fix  my  thought 
on  the  good  that  is 
in  every  soul  and 
make  my  appeal  to 
that.  And  the  plan 
is  a  wise  one,  judg- 
ed by  results.  It  se- 
cures for  you  loyal 
helpers,  worthy 
friends,  aids  diges- 
tion, gets  the  work  done  and  tends  to  sleep 
o'  nights.  And  I  say  to  you,  that  if  you 
have  never  known  the  love,  loyalty  and  in- 
tegrity of  a  proscribed  person,  you  have 
never  known  what  love,  loyalty  and  integ- 
rity are.  H I  do  not  believe  in  governing  by 
force,  or  threat,  or  any  other  form  of  coer- 
cion. I  would  not  condemn  any  one.  I  would 
not  arouse  in  the  heart  of  any  of  God's 
creatures  a  thought  of  fear,  or  discord,  or 
hate,  or  revenge.  I  will  influence  men,  if  I 
can,  but  it  shall  be  only  by  aiding  them  to 
think  for  themselves;  and  so,  mayhap,  they, 
of  their  own  accord  will  choose  the  better 
part — the  ways  that  lead  to  Life  and  Light. 


SO  HERE  THEN  ENDETH  CODTEmPLJITIOnS  AS  WRITTEN  BY  ELBERT 
HUBBARD.  PRINTED  BY  THE  ROYCROFTERS  AT  THEIR  SHOP  IN  EAST 
AURORA,  NEW  YORK,  U.  S.  A.  PRESSWORK  FINISHED  IN  OCTOBER,  NINE- 
TEEN HUNDRED  TWO.  THE  TITLE  PAGE  AFTER  THE  DECRETALES  OF  ST. 
GREGORY  AS  DONE  BY  JOANIS  PETIT  AT  VENICE  IN  FIFTEEN  HUNDRED 
AND  TWENTY-NINE.  THE  ORNAMENTS  DESIGNED  BY  RICHARD  KRUGER, 
PRESSWORK  BY  OTTO  FRANZ,  AND  COMPOSITION  BY  CHARLES  ROSEN 


AVERY 
CJWtt 


